Congressional Record, Volume 156 Issue 112 (Wednesday, July 28, 2010)

[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H6204-H6206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ENHANCEMENT ACT

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 5751) to amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
to require registrants to pay an annual fee of $50, to impose a penalty
of $500 for failure to file timely reports required by that Act, to
provide for the use of the funds from such fees and penalties for
reviewing and auditing filings by registrants, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 5751

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Lobbying Disclosure
Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT TASK FORCE.

(a) Establishment.--The Attorney General shall establish
the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforcement Task Force (in this
section referred to as the ``Task Force'').
(b) Functions.--The Task Force--
(1) shall have primary responsibility for investigating and
prosecuting each case referred to the Attorney General under
section 6(a)(8) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2
U.S.C. 1605(a)(8)); and
(2) shall collect and disseminate information with respect
to the enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2
U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out
this section.

SEC. 3. REFERRAL OF CASES TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

Section 6(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2
U.S.C. 1605(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (8), by striking ``United States Attorney
for the District of Columbia'' and inserting ``Attorney
General''; and
(2) in paragraph (11), by striking ``United States Attorney
for the District of Columbia'' and inserting ``Attorney
General''.

SEC. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED ENFORCEMENT.

The Attorney General may make recommendations to Congress
with respect to--
(1) the enforcement of and compliance with the Lobbying
Disclosure Act of 1995; and
(2) the need for resources available for the enhanced
enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995

SEC. 5. INFORMATION IN ENFORCEMENT REPORTS.

Section 6(b)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2
U.S.C. 1605(b)(1)) is amended by striking ``by case'' and all
that follows through ``public record'' and inserting ``by
case and name of the individual lobbyists or lobbying firms
involved, any sentences imposed''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.

General Leave

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act makes several
straightforward, commonsense amendments to the enforcement provisions
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
First, this bill establishes a task force specifically dedicated to
the enforcement of our lobbying laws. Although the newspapers are full
of stories about lobbyists who file late, inaccurate, and incomplete
reports, there has not yet been a single significant enforcement
action.

{time} 1400

We believe that an institutional change is in order. The task force
will receive complaints from the Clerk of the House, investigate these
cases, and enforce the disclosure laws to the fullest extent.
Second, this bill asks the Department of Justice to make
recommendations to the Congress for additional improvements to the
enforcement of lobbying disclosure laws. The ethics reform legislation
we passed last Congress was an important step in bringing transparency
and accountability to lobbying disclosure, but much more

[[Page H6205]]

can and should be done. We look forward to working with Attorney
General Holder to improve on the current system.
Third, the bill amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act to require the
Attorney General to publish the names of lobbyists and lobbying firms
who are sanctioned under the law. Just as we expect the Department of
Justice to enforce the LDA, this bill will require the Department to be
transparent about the results of their investigations and prosecutions.
I would like to thank the sponsor of the bill, the gentlelady from
Ohio (Ms. Kilroy), for her steadfast leadership on this important
issue. I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 5751, the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement
Act. The purpose of the bill is to provide flexibility to the executive
branch for the enforcement of the provisions in the Lobbying Disclosure
Act of 1995.
H.R. 5751 directs the Attorney General of the United States to
establish a task force towards this end. The task force is given the
primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute possible violations
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The task force is also directed to
collect and disseminate information with respect to compliance with the
enforcement of the act.
Legislation specifies that with the information gathered by the task
force, the Attorney General may make recommendations to Congress with
regard to improving enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act and the
resources it needs. We expect the task force created by this bill to
become a new point of contact. It will be up to the Attorney General to
determine where to locate the task force and the responsibilities under
the Lobbying Disclosure Act within the Justice Department's
organizational structure.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to express concern about the process and the
development of the execution or the bringing of this bill forward.
I have expressed support of it, it makes some sense--it doesn't,
quite frankly, do much--but it should also be noted that there should
be a proper way and process by which we move these bills forward.
This bill was introduced on July 15. It didn't show up on the whip
notice until late last night. This morning, in a very bipartisan way--
and I thank both sides for working together with the staff--but we have
a copy of this bill that came across at 12:15; it is now just after 2
o'clock.
The title of the bill, as read, talks about a fee that would be
imposed, a penalty that would be imposed. My understanding is--and I'm
happy to yield to the gentleman who is managing this bill to help talk
about this--but the title of the bill talked about a new fee and
penalty, but I don't think there's fees and penalties even in the bill.
There was no hearing, there was no subcommittee work, there was no
committee work on this.
I would be happy to yield to the gentleman if he can help clarify any
of those points.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Yes, there are fees in the title of the bill; however, in working
with the minority, the bill was amended and the fees were taken out.
The title did not change because of the amendments, but that's why the
fees are not there because we were accommodating the minority side of
the aisle.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Reclaiming my time, the annual fee, I guess, was going
to be $50. To impose a penalty of $500 for failure to file timely
reports--these lobbyists walk around with $5,000 bills in their
pockets. I would like to see, if we had time to discuss this in
committee, a $500 penalty. They get that in a half hour's work. That
isn't much of an incentive for them to file in a timely manner.
The bigger, broader point, Mr. Speaker, is these are the types of
discussions that really should happen in the subcommittee and in the
committee, the timing of these issues, why we would make this change.
Mr. Speaker, I would just make a further point on H.R. 5751. While it
moves the structure slightly and gives more flexibility to the Attorney
General, obviously we want to see these laws and the compliance
fulfilled as much as possible. If this will in any way help the
Attorney General in doing so, so be it; we're happy to support this
bill.
I still must reiterate that the speed in which this bill was offered,
the lack of opportunity for members within the Judiciary Committee to
properly debate this, vet this, the fact that we were still dealing
back and forth with some staff--and, again, I appreciate the bipartisan
way in which it was done, but at the same time, these are the types of
things that get vetted and ferreted out with better discussion and
review. I think we could have made it stronger, quite frankly. We could
have added some real teeth to it, that's unfortunate, but nevertheless,
we do urge its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time
remains on this side?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 18\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, to close for our side, I yield
the balance of my time to the sponsor of the bill, the gentlelady from
Ohio (Ms. Kilroy).
Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of legislation I
introduced, H.R. 5751, the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act, to help
bring accountability to the way lobbyists do business in Washington.
Back home, many people tell us that Washington is broken, that we
need to end politics as usual. Well, one of the ways we tried to do
this is to rein in lobbyists through the disclosure filings that they
are required to file, and it is amazing how difficult it is to even
make that happen.
H.R. 5751 would create a task force to help investigate and prosecute
violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. If there is not some kind of
push to enforce, then frequently people fall into noncompliance and
they don't take us seriously. Well, it's time for us to be taken
seriously on this question.
Mandated by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, a
recent GAO study found the need for more transparency and
accountability for special interest influence in government.
Specifically, the GAO found that since 1996, the Secretary of the
Senate has referred 8,281 potential violations of lobbying disclosure
rules to the DOJ. About 4,400 of those referrals occurred in 2009
alone. The Office of the Clerk has referred an aggregate of 760
potential noncompliant registrants to the U.S. Attorney for the
District of Columbia. And for 9 years, at least one organization
reported lobbying the same 16 outdated--and mostly dead--pieces of
legislation it initially reported in 1999 and 2000.
These statistics show a growing trend of mistakes and noncompliance
that can't be ignored by this body. We have promised the American
people more transparency and accountability, and my bill will help
deliver on that promise.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Will the gentlewoman yield for a question?
Ms. KILROY. I yield to the gentleman from Utah.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my question is about the fees. Originally, the title
said there was going to be a fee and that there was going to be a
penalty. And suddenly, why did those come out? If you want
accountability, why would you take out the penalty?
Ms. KILROY. I thank the gentleman for his question.
I fully would have supported a fee such as was included in the
original bill, but we were informed by the Clerk of the House that they
could not administer such a fee. So I would be more than happy if you
and others in Judiciary would take up that question and return that
question when we come back in September.

{time} 1410

But reclaiming my time, I came here to change the ``politics as
usual'' approach and to help bring reform.
The Attorney General is given the responsibility to report back to
Congress with policy recommendations about how best to improve the
Lobbying Disclosure Act going forward and about how to make the
processing and enforcement seem self-funded. I believe that the
taxpayers should not have to

[[Page H6206]]

shoulder the heavy burden of playing watchdog to this industry and that
the creation of a self-sustaining system could be possible.
My legislation changes the current disclosure rule that previously
prevented the Department of Justice from publishing the name and firm
of anyone in violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. We will now know
the names of the lobbyists who continue to file late or to file
incorrect information. This change reminded me of a phrase I heard
recently: ``What you can't get through altruism, you must get through
shame.''
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Conyers and the Judiciary
Committee staff, who worked with me on this bill, as well as the
majority leader for giving me the opportunity to speak to this bill
this afternoon on the floor.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill,
H.R. 5751, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title was amended so as to read: ``A bill to provide for the
establishment of a task force that will be responsible for
investigating cases referred to the Attorney General under the Lobbying
Disclosure Act of 1995, and for other purposes.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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