[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CLOSE THE LOBBYIST LOOPHOLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rose) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROSE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues 
to support the Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act.
  This bill will close a loophole that lobbyists on both sides of the 
aisle--and they are lobbyists--have been taking advantage of for far 
too long. They have been using it to skirt disclosure under the guise 
of just providing strategic guidance for billion-dollar corporations.
  You know, when I go back to Staten Island and south Brooklyn, they 
see right through this. They see it for what it is, people getting over 
on the system on the backs of hardworking Americans. And they are tired 
of it.
  It is time that we do our job here in the Halls of Congress to end 
this. This is the way our jobs should work, because for far too long we 
have been allowing lobbyists on both sides of the aisle to undermine 
this process and keep our constituents in the dark.
  Just look at this--both sides of the aisle. We have seen this in my 
own party with former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle:

       He laid the blueprint for the shadow lobbying industry. He 
     did work that looks, smells, and tastes a lot like lobbying, 
     but the public was in the dark. He earned millions advising 
     healthcare clients and others about how to navigate Congress 
     without registering as a lobbyist.

  And on the Republican side, the President's former lawyer, the 
infamous Michael Cohen, getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars 
for providing strategic guidance to corporations when, in truth, it was 
providing access to the President without ever registering as a 
lobbyist. Again:

       Used his ties to the President to land consulting 
     agreements; secretly hired to work on the same issues their 
     lobbyists were already registered to work on; was paid 
     millions of dollars to help influence administration policy 
     without once registering as a lobbyist.

  Folks, this is corruption. Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, this is 
corruption.
  And no matter if you are a Democrat, if you are a Republican, or if 
you are an independent, we all see it for what it is.
  Now, this is why H.R. 1 is such an essential step. I applaud my 
Democratic colleagues for putting a bold anticorruption bill on the 
floor of the House this week, of which the Lobbyist Loophole Closure 
Act will be a part.
  We have got to take this opportunity and push the ball forward 
because, for the last 4 years, the American people have been voting for 
change. The Republicans called it draining the swamp. The Democrats 
called it anticorruption.
  The American people are united against the American political class. 
They are united against the D.C. political class.
  We have got to do something about it, because, if it looks like a 
lobbyist, if it talks like a lobbyist, if it acts like a lobbyist, 
then, Mr. Speaker, let's call it a lobbyist. Let's disclose it and 
regulate it as such.

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