[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 395-396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONEST LEADERSHIP ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, tomorrow morning the Senate will begin the 
hard work of moving our country forward with S. 1. S. 1 is the ethics, 
lobbying, earmark reform legislation that will be before this body 
tomorrow.
  After a long time, it seems, the new Senate has been sworn in. Our 10 
new colleagues are here. Today we govern, and we start with S. 1. It is 
called the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act. When 
passed, this legislation will help ensure America has a government as 
good and as honest as the people whom it serves. I want the record to 
be spread with my appreciation for Senator McConnell cosponsoring this 
legislation. As the Chair knows and has worked so hard to promote 
bipartisanship, we cannot accomplish anything in this 110th Congress 
unless the legislative body works together on a bipartisan basis and 
sends legislation to the President that he will sign. Senator McConnell 
set the right tone in agreeing to cosponsor this most important 
legislation. Again, I appreciate that very much. It is good for the 
American people to see that the first piece of legislation being 
brought before this body is one that is cosponsored by the Republican 
leader and the Democratic leader.
  In the weeks leading to this new Congress, we have heard Members from 
both sides of the aisle talk about bipartisanship. S. 1 will have 
turned that talk into action. This is a bipartisan bill cosponsored by 
the two leaders, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the 
relevant committees.
  The designation of the bill as S. 1 has symbolic importance. Often S. 
1 is a vehicle for the majority party to make a partisan statement to 
its base. I have asked my staff to ascertain the last time a bill 
designated as S. 1 was jointly sponsored by the majority and minority 
leaders. It has been 32 years. In 1975, majority leader Mike Mansfield 
and minority leader Hugh Scott jointly sponsored a bipartisan criminal 
justice reform bill. I am very happy to revive the Mansfield-Scott 
tradition, where we have leaders working together to move this country 
forward.
  There are many reasons ethics reform is the first legislative item 
the Senate will consider. Most importantly, because no issue facing 
this body is more fundamentally important. Honest government should not 
be a partisan goal. It is the key to a strong nation. All our work this 
year is based upon what S. 1 is to the American people. When we make 
leaders accountable to the people, not the special interests or 
lobbyists, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. We can be 
energy independent. We can have affordable health care. We can build a 
strong economy and provide real security for our country. Each of these 
goals can be accomplished if we ensure that the people's needs, not 
special interest needs, are put first.
  Ethics reform is also the first order of business because it is a 
clear priority of the American people. In election day exit polls on 
November 7, voters spoke loudly and very clearly about their diminished 
faith in government. Forty-one percent of voters named corruption as 
extremely important in determining whom they would vote for. Americans 
want us to purge the Government of undue influence, and they want us to 
eliminate the conditions that led to the scandal-making headlines of 
last year and 2005: headlines about officials being flown to Scotland 
for rounds of golf; headlines about committee chairmen negotiating 
lucrative lobbying jobs with the industries they oversee, while working 
on legislation important to those industries; and, of course, headlines 
about ``pay to play'' schemes such as the infamous K Street Project, 
where jobs and campaign donations were traded for legislation and other 
official acts.
  A number of elected officials and lobbyists have been put in jail for 
their activities that showed a disrespect for the Congress and the 
country. The American people simply have had enough. This is not the 
first time the Senate has considered ethics legislation. Last year, in 
the wake of the scandals of 2005, we debated and passed a reform bill 
in the Senate. Unfortunately, it fell victim to politics and never 
emerged from a conference committee, even though that bill passed on a 
bipartisan basis in the Senate. This year we are not going to let that 
happen. We will pass this bill, put it into law.
  The House of Representatives has already acted on part of this issue, 
as their rules allow them to proceed faster than the Senate, and that 
is an understatement. I applaud Speaker Pelosi for making ethics reform 
a House priority. We will address many of the same issues here. But 
because of our rules, we will proceed at a much slower pace, not 
because we want to but that is how the Senate operates.
  This bill will not be referred to the committees of jurisdiction. 
Senator McConnell and I have decided to begin the debate with the same 
bill that passed this Chamber 90 to 8 last year. It has been through 
the committees previously, providing us with a strong starting point 
for action this year.
  The reforms in S. 1 are very real, very strong. To begin, it 
prohibits gifts and travel paid for by lobbyists, such as Jack 
Abramoff's infamous trips around the world. Under provisions of this 
bill, no Member or staff would be able to receive any gift or take any 
trip paid for by a registered lobbyist. Next, this legislation will 
slow the revolving door that shuffles lawmakers and top staff between 
Federal jobs and the private sector. We all remember the case of the 
House chairman to manage the Medicare Part D bill on the floor of the 
House only to leave shortly thereafter to make $1 million a year as 
president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. 
This bill will ban former Members from lobbying for 2 years, toughen 
lobbying bans already in place for senior staff, require public 
disclosure by Members negotiating private sector employment, and strip 
former Members who become lobbyists of their floor privileges.
  Third, this bill will improve Senate procedures to make our work more 
transparent to the public. It will require full disclosure of earmarks. 
It will provide new tools to ensure that Members of Congress and 
members of the public have a chance to review bills before they are 
voted on. It will make it harder to insert new provisions in conference 
reports and hand out special favors in the dead of night.
  Fourth, it will improve lobbying disclosures. Today lobbyists must 
file reports semiannually. Our legislation will require them quarterly. 
Not only that, we will post the reports on the Internet, and we will 
require lobbyists to include their campaign contributions and 
fundraisers. Those who don't follow the rules will be subject to stiff 
new penalties.
  Fifth, this bill will make partisan efforts to influence private 
sector hiring, such as the K Street Project, a violation of Senate 
rules and mandate ethics training for all Members and staff.
  The bill I have outlined, in a broad sense, is a starting point. If 
we did nothing else other than pass this bill, we would have enacted 
the most sweeping ethics reforms in a generation or more. But we will 
not stop with this bill that has been introduced. Very soon I expect to 
offer a substitute amendment that will strengthen this legislation even 
more. I hope to do that sometime tomorrow. Then we will have ample time 
for other Senators to improve the bill through further amendment.
  Our two Democratic managers, Senators Feinstein and Lieberman, will 
oversee a strong bipartisan debate. And together we will pass the 
strongest Government reform bill to come out of the Senate since 
Watergate.

[[Page 396]]

  Some of the improvements I expect to be approved this week include 
extending the gifts and travel ban to companies and groups that hire 
lobbyists, not just the lobbyists themselves. I also expect we will 
approve earmark disclosure and that we will toughen penalties for those 
who set up fraudulent, corrupt lobbying schemes such as the ones Mr. 
Abramoff created.
  We have tremendous challenges facing us this year, but our first is 
to restore the people's faith in their government. With the bipartisan 
reforms I have outlined today, we can accomplish that task.
  There is no better way to start this new Congress than by showing the 
American people that we will answer only to them.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I believe we are in morning business; 
is that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. What is the length of time for each Senator?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A 10-minute time limit.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair.

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