[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 82 (Thursday, May 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5335-H5336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ETHICS REFORM

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as the ethical cloud of the last dozen 
years has hovered over Congress, I am proud that the new Democratic 
Members are aggressively pursuing an agenda of ethics reform. Long 
overdue.
  I have introduced bipartisan legislation with my Oregon colleague, 
Greg Walden, to help establish an independent commission to do the hard 
work of professionally investigating and evaluating ethics charges. I 
am hopeful that some provision of that nature will find its way to the 
floor. The

[[Page H5336]]

Democratic leadership has indicated that they will allow votes on key 
provisions and allow the votes on such proposals, the chips to fall 
where they may.
  I am confident with a wide range of choices that we will be able to 
have a longer, stronger prohibition from the congressional lobby 
revolving door and independent oversight. I hope that Members from both 
sides of the aisle will seize this opportunity to strengthen our ethics 
framework.

                          ____________________