[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[December 19, 1995]
[Pages 1904-1907]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and an Exchange 
With Reporters
December 19, 1995

    The President. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today, after two 
decades of gridlock, I am very proud to be able to sign this legisla-


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tion to bring lobbying in Washington into the sunlight of public 
scrutiny.
    Last year when lobbying reform legislation was filibustered to 
death, there were lobbyists crowded outside the Senate Chamber who 
literally cheered. Today I sign that bill into law. And that's something 
for the American people to cheer about.
    I want to begin by thanking those whose efforts made this possible. 
And their efforts were constant, longstanding, and carried on, I might 
add, from time to time under great duress.
    First, let me say I believe this new law to bring lobbying into the 
open would never have happened without the leadership of Senator Carl 
Levin. The first conversation that he and I had after I was elected 
President was about this legislation, and therefore in a very real sense 
this lobby reform law is a monument to the years and years of effort 
that Carl Levin has made. And I thank you, Senator, for that.
    There are many, many other Members of Congress in both parties who 
played a pivotal role in enacting this needed reform. Many of them are 
here today, and I want to thank them. I want to thank Senator Cohen and 
Senator Wellstone. And I want to thank Congressman Bryant, Congressman 
Canady, Congressman Frank, Congressman Fazio, Congressman McHale, 
Congressman Chris Shays, Congressman Goss, Congressman Doggett, and 
Congressman Barrett, who was not able to be here today.
    On this matter, Democrats and Republicans acted together to put the 
public interest before partisanship. And they faced withering pressure 
to do otherwise. This law is also a testament to the thousands of 
citizens who were members of groups lobbying for this, members of Common 
Cause, Public Citizen, and many other groups, who have sought to make 
real the promise of our democracy. It is also, frankly, a testament to 
the efforts of thousands of citizens who belong to no particular group 
but who showed up at town meetings that these Members and others had all 
across our country. They were Republicans and Democrats and 
independents, people who wanted this kind of change, real change, for a 
very, very long time.
    Lobbying has its rightful place in our system. I believe every 
Member here and every Member who voted for this bill understands that 
and understands what a valuable role lobbying can play in the American 
system. At one time or another, just about every American citizen has 
wanted to be a lobbyist before the Congress on one issue or another.
    But ordinary Americans also understand that organized interests too 
often can hold too much sway in the halls of power. They know that in 
Washington an influence industry too often operates in secret and gets 
special privileges not available to most Americans. Lobbyists in the 
back room secretly rewriting laws and looking for loopholes do not have 
a place in our democracy. All the people should know what is done by 
people who affect public decisions.
    I ran for President in large measure to renew our democracy, to give 
ordinary Americans a greater stake in our Government. I strongly called 
for reform measures, including this bill, from the very beginning. 
Shortly after I took office, I implemented the toughest ethics code on 
executive officials in our history, barring senior appointees from 
lobbying their own agencies for 5 years after leaving office and from 
ever lobbying for foreign governments. We repealed the tax loophole that 
let lobbyists deduct the cost of their activities and enacted the motor 
voter bill which will add millions of new voters to the rolls.
    Until today, the rules governing lobbyists, virtually unchanged 
since 1946, have been more of a loophole than a law. For the first time 
this new law requires professional lobbyists to disclose publicly who 
they are, for whom they work, what they're spending, and what bills 
they're trying to pass, kill, or amend. The bill is tough. It will pull 
back the curtains from the world of Washington lobbying. It will help to 
restore the trust of the American people in their Government. It is a 
good bill for America.
    At the outset of this year, I asked the Congress to take four major 
steps toward political reform. First, I asked them to apply to 
themselves the laws that they pass governing the rest of America. 
Congress took this step, thanks to the hard work of many lawmakers here 
today.
    Second, I asked the Congress to give up gifts, meals, and trips from 
lobbyists. Earlier this year, Congress agreed to that, and I applaud 
them for that.
    Thirdly, I asked Congress to enact strong lobbying disclosure. 
Shortly, I will sign that bill into law. And I think it is fair to say, 
thanks to the efforts of these gentlemen and others, that bill is much 
stronger than most people ever dreamed would pass the United States 
Congress.

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    Fourth, I asked the Congress to reduce the influence of money on 
elections. And though Congress still has not acted, there is sign of 
hope here as well. Truly bipartisan legislation is now moving forward in 
both the Senate and the House to limit spending, curb PACs and 
lobbyists, provide free TV time for candidates, and end the soft money 
system, proposals virtually identical to the ones I advocated in 1992. 
They are real reform. And I look forward to working with lawmakers from 
both parties in the months ahead to quickly enact campaign finance 
reform as well.
    For now, let us recognize and appreciate the significant step being 
taken today. This law says the days of secret lobbying are over. 
Throughout our history, the people of our country have fought to make 
the Government heed their voice. This new law is in the best tradition 
of America, one articulated by President Andrew Jackson a long time ago, 
``Equal opportunity for all; special privileges for none.''
    Thank you very much, all of you.

[At this point, the President signed the legislation.]

Budget Impasse

    Q. Do you think you're going to get a CR before Christmas?
    The President. I certainly hope so. We're going to have a meeting 
this afternoon, and I'm looking forward to it. The Speaker and Senator 
Dole are coming over, and then we'll have some more meetings. And I hope 
we can work it out.
    If you look at this legislation, this is an example of what we can 
do if we focus on one goal and determine to achieve that goal and bridge 
our other differences. And I believe that about 80 percent of both 
Houses in Congress, maybe even more, would like to pass a 7-year 
balanced budget that has real credibility with the financial markets, 
that would keep interest rates coming down, keep home mortgages being 
refinanced, keep investment flowing into the country to keep this 
economy going.
    Q. They won't agree to your conditions.
    The President. Well, you don't know that. We'll see. We're going to 
keep talking. We've worked hard. I've worked hard. I worked all last 
weekend on this budget to do everything I can to pass a budget that is 
consistent. I even got--I gave this to all our folks today to make sure 
that they would read and reread this--the actual language of the last 
continuing resolution. And so we're working on it very hard.
    Q. You said that in this bill the Democrats and Republicans put 
partisan considerations aside and worked for the public interest. Do you 
feel that the White House and the Republicans can do that now on the 
budget?
    The President. Yes. It's more difficult because there are 80 or 90 
issues--policy issues that we have some differences on. But if we say 
what our goal is, our goal is to pass a credible balanced budget plan, 
recognizing that no one can foresee what will happen in every year f the 
next 7 years but that a plan that is passed, that is credible, that is 
ultimately certified by the Congressional Budget Office, that the 
financial markets and the business community, the ultimate judge of 
this, say, this is a good plan. This is going to work. That would be a 
very good thing for America. I think we can do it.

The Economy

    Q. You sound concerned, Mr. President, about the financial markets; 
you brought it up twice this morning. Are you worried about the hit it 
took yesterday?
    The President. Not especially. I don't like to comment on short-term 
changes in the market. You know, when I ran for President, I said I 
thought if we could pass a credible deficit reduction plan in 1993, we 
could create over 8 million jobs and we'd get a stock market of 4,000. I 
never dreamed it would go to 5. [Laughter] So the American economy is 
very strong, very vibrant. And in an economy with a free market system 
with this much activity, there's going to be changes in the market. You 
know there are, always have been, always will be. I don't think we 
should comment on that or read too much into it one way or the other.

Securities Litigation Reform

    Q. Are you going to sign the securities litigation reform, Mr. 
President?
    The President. For the last week, I have spent several hours on 
that. I believe that some legislative activity there is warranted, and 
I'm going to have a final review today. Yesterday I had a long meeting, 
and I asked one particular question and asked it to be researched at 
some length. I'll have a meeting later this afternoon; I'll have an 
announcement sometime today about it.

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    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:09 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. S. 1060, approved December 19, was assigned Public Law No. 
104-65.