[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 74 (Tuesday, May 6, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3836-S3837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      PROVIDING FOR PAYMENT OF SALARIES IN OR UNDER THE HOUSE OF 
                            REPRESENTATIVES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 5493 and the 
Senate now proceed to its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 5493) to provide that the usual day for paying 
     salaries in or under the House of Representatives may be 
     established by regulations of the Committee on House 
     Administration.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the amendment that I am offering on behalf 
of myself and Senator McConnell addresses technical issues with respect 
to the ``cooling-off period'' for senior staff members.
  Under title 18 and the Senate rules, staff members whose salary is 
above a certain threshold are prohibited from lobbying the Senate for a 
period of 1 year. One of the reforms in S. 1, the ethics reform bill we 
enacted last year, was to broaden the scope of the ban--senior staff 
members who were previously prohibited from lobbying individual Senate 
offices for a year are now prohibited from lobbying the entire Senate.
  However, we have been made aware of an unintended consequence of the 
law: some junior staff members who receive salary bonuses over a period 
of 2 months are inadvertently covered by the lobbying ban, which is now 
even more sweeping. The Reid-McConnell amendment addresses this problem 
by providing that a staff member whose

[[Page S3837]]

salary is above the threshold for only 2 months will not be covered by 
the ban, even if those 2 months--for example, July and August--have an 
aggregate of more than 60 days.
  Our amendment also makes the criminal law and Senate Rule XXXVII 
consistent. Both the law and the rule will now look back over the same 
time period, i.e., 1 year before an employee's termination, and the 
threshold will be the same, i.e., more than 2 months. Post-employment 
restrictions will thus be clearer to staff and the public, as well as 
easier to administer.
  Under 2 U.S.C. 60c-1, Members, officers, and employees of the Senate 
are paid on a semimonthly basis: generally, the 20th of every month for 
the period of the 1st through the 15th and the 5th of the succeeding 
month for the period of the 16th through the end of the month. Thus, 
the language ``two months'' is intended and shall mean in the Senate 
equal to four pay periods. If an employee were to be paid above the 
threshold amount for more than four pay periods, for example, for four 
and any part of a fifth pay period, he or she would be covered by the 
restrictions of both the law and the rule.
  Mr. President, the amendment is at the desk, and I ask unanimous 
consent that the amendment be considered and agreed to, the bill, as 
amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider 
be laid upon the table; that any statements relating to this matter be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 4712) was agreed to, as follows:

   (Purpose: To propose a technical amendment relating to Senate pay 
                                periods)

       At the end of the bill, insert the following:

     SEC. __. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT RELATING TO SENATE PAY PERIODS.

       (a) Title 18.--Section 207(e)(7) of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``at least 60 days'' 
     and inserting ``more than 2 months''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``at least 60 days'' 
     and inserting ``more than 2 months''.
       (b) Senate Rules.--Paragraph 9(c) of rule XXXVII of the 
     Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by striking ``more 
     than 60 days in a calendar year'' and inserting ``more than 2 
     months, in the aggregate, during the 1-year period before 
     that former officer's or employee's service as such officer 
     or employee was terminated''.

  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  The bill (H.R. 5493), as amended, was passed.

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