February 28, 2006
Santorum Lobbies On Reform
During today's Sen Rules Cmte markup of Cmte chair Trent Lott's (R-MS) lobbying overhaul bill, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) may have helped his re-election chances while not irritating his colleagues too much.
Santorum offered four amendments to the bill, reports CongressDailyPM. Amendments to require senators to disclose with whom they are negotiating future employment deals and to restrict family members of senators from lobbying their relatives passed, but two amendments that would have given the bill some serious teeth -- measures to extend the lobbying moratorium from one year to two years and to require disclosure of flights taken on corporate jets, as well as sharing a portion of the costs of those flights -- failed by voice votes.
Santorum's effort is smart politics. With the current less-than-stellar reputation of lobbyists in DC and a minor buzz about the ethics surrounding both Santorum's and Bob Casey's (D) mortgages, being able to brag about his efforts at "real" lobbying reform in a debate -- even if the Senate fails to act on any of his amendments -- will put some much-needed distance between him and the troubled GOP caucus in DC.
Other provisions of note in the bill include a 60-vote point of order requirement against conference report provisions that were not included in either the House or the Senate version of a bill, an amendment added by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), revocation of floor priviliges for former members and a requirement that any privately-funded travel is subject to both pre-approval and post-return review by the Ethics Cmte.
The latter two provisions were included in Lott's original version of the bill. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) successfully stripped a provision that would have required Native American tribes from having to report contributions to fed candidates to the FEC. {REID WILSON]
Posted at 05:08 PM
Comments
Why don't you link to the "facts" that support your analysis?
You say this: "a minor buzz surrounding both" mortgages.
The buzz I see is Santorum got special treatment for a 500K mortgage. Casey is going to release his mortgage details (if he hasn't already), and I'm sure Mr. Santorum will release his mortgage details immediately thereafter.
Cuz we all know that if Rick did nothing wrong, he's got nothing to hide, right?
Flamethrower | 02.28.06 07:07 PM
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Lipstick on a corpse, baby. Lipstick on a corpse. Little Ricky is going down, and you can take that to the bank.
billmon | 02.28.06 09:34 PM
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Hot line is wonderful.
Jill | 03.01.06 09:33 AM
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The Santorum mortgage isn't the issue, the fact that he's the former King of K Street that's the problem!
I'm in favor of both Santorum amendments for the record.
Bob | 03.01.06 03:00 PM
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rosie@triad29.com
rosieponder@verizon.net
Not only do they try to rip you off, they send your email out and you get a ton of junk mail.
Beancyacark | 03.03.08 11:07 AM
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