[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 9/11 
                         COMMISSION ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the House 
of Representatives for its approval of S. 1, legislation providing for 
the codification of important new lobbying and ethics rules. I also 
would like to take this opportunity to urge the Senate and President to 
promptly approve this important legislation.
  I have been a longstanding supporter of efforts to make government 
more transparent, and to hold public officials and those who influence 
the legislative process accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, 
in recent years the influence of money in politics and a number of 
ethics scandals have tarnished the integrity of the Congress and led to 
increased public cynicism. There is a national crisis of confidence in 
our political system because of the influence of money in the 
legislative process, and the American people share a widely held belief 
that special interests, lobbyists, and the very wealthiest campaign 
contributors wield too much influence in government.
  S. 1 is the logical continuation of the efforts that have already 
been undertaken in this Congress to provide greater transparency and to 
restore a sense of accountability to the Congress, and I am pleased 
that Congress is moving to establish new lobbying disclosure 
requirements and ethics enforcement mechanisms that will provide 
further additional deterrents to engaging in unethical behavior. I am 
also pleased that it would establish a new rule in the Senate regarding 
earmark transparency, specifically requiring that lists of earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits included in bills, 
joint resolutions, or conference reports be made available on the 
Internet to the general public for at least 48 hours before 
consideration.
  For several months I have advocated adding a similar requirement to 
the House rules so I am disappointed, however, that this requirement 
was not extended to the House of Representatives. In fact, on February 
15, 2007, I introduced H. Res. 169, a House resolution that would bring 
the earmark disclosure requirements of the House in line with those of 
S. 1, which would ensure that lists of earmarks, limited tax benefits, 
and limited tariff benefits included in House bills, joint resolutions, 
or conference reports be made available on a publicly accessible 
website at least 48 hours before consideration. I believe that this is 
a commonsense reform to the House rules that would provide American 
taxpayers with easily accessible information on congressional earmarks 
and bring an additional level of transparency and accountability to the 
process. I encourage my colleagues in the House to join me in this to 
make the earmarking process in the House as open and transparent as 
possible.

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