WP: Democrats Plan Series of Votes on Ethics Reforms: "Unorthodox approach"

Democrats Plan Series of Votes on Ethics Reforms
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 21, 2006; Page A04

Despite divisions among Democrats over how far to go in revising ethics rules, House leaders plan a major rollout of an ethics reform bill early next year to demonstrate concern about an issue that helped defeat the Republicans in the midterm elections.

But they will do it with a twist: Instead of forwarding one big bill, Democrats will put together an ethics package on the House floor piece by piece, allowing incoming freshmen to take charge of high-profile issues and lengthening the time spent on the debate. The approach will ensure that each proposal -- including banning gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists as well as imposing new controls on the budget deficit -- is debated on its own and receives its own vote. That should garner far more media attention for the bill's components before a final vote on the entire package....

The approach may be the first indication of how the Democrats plan to use their ability to control the House agenda as the majority power, setting the terms of debate while lifting the strict rules that Republicans used to curtail dissent.

And Democrats hope to show that they are attentive to issues of corruption that, according to exit polling, proved to be of major concern to voters on Nov. 7. House and Senate GOP leaders pledged early this year to pass major lobbying reforms in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal but never delivered on their promise.

Democratic leaders are still putting the finishing touches on the floor schedule and some of the components of the ethics package, said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for incoming House speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). But other Democratic leadership aides said the proposal to break up the package and reassemble it is virtually a done deal....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/20/AR2006112001233.html

And hopefully it'll prevent any one piece from causing the whole to come crashing down.

must cut that shit out ...

Good to know that the House Dems know how to sieze the initiative on the issues and use said initiative to their advantage. Not to mention all the new ammo that will arise of those who want to oppose each piece.

Omnibus bill = corruption bait

I love these defense bills that include giveaways to politicians that have nothing whatsoever to do with defense. Just another wonderful way to sneak in greed without having to do much in the way of answering for it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...


Democrats Plan Series of Votes on Ethics Reforms

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 21, 2006; A04



Despite divisions among Democrats over how far to go in revising ethics rules, House leaders plan a major rollout of an ethics reform bill early next year to demonstrate concern about an issue that helped defeat the Republicans in the midterm elections.

But they will do it with a twist: Instead of forwarding one big bill, Democrats will put together an ethics package on the House floor piece by piece, allowing incoming freshmen to take charge of high-profile issues and lengthening the time spent on the debate. The approach will ensure that each proposal -- including banning gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists as well as imposing new controls on the budget deficit -- is debated on its own and receives its own vote. That should garner far more media attention for the bill's components before a final vote on the entire package...The approach may be the first indication of how the Democrats plan to use their ability to control the House agenda as the majority power, setting the terms of debate while lifting the strict rules that Republicans used to curtail dissent.

Under that plan, freshmen would offer, over as many as five days in January, separate amendments to ban gifts, meals and travel financed by lobbyists, said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), incoming chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. New rules mandating the disclosure of all contacts with lobbyists would be another vote, as would a rule requiring that the sponsors of funding for home-state pet projects be identified. The House would also vote on whether to reinstate budget rules, known as pay-as-you-go, or "paygo," requiring that any new spending or tax cuts be offset by equal spending cuts or tax increases....The idea is to give each provision what Emanuel called its "Warhol time" -- 15 minutes of fame -- while forcing Republicans to take a stand on the components before a final vote on the ethics package. Because House rules changes are, by tradition, party-line votes, breaking the package into its components would also allow Republicans to support individual amendments, even though they probably would vote against the package in the end.

The unorthodox approach, more reminiscent of the drawn-out legislating done in the Senate than the slam-dunks of the House, would also give Democratic leaders a chance to show that they plan to change the way the House does business, Democrats said....The procedure would be as much about solidifying Democratic power as it would be about changing the rules of the House. Freshmen Democrats, many of them representing Republican-leaning districts, would take ownership of components that would resonate most with their voters, Democratic leaders said. For example, a conservative "Blue Dog" would get to present the budget-balancing rule.

Amendments aimed at reducing the influence of lobbyists would go to swing-district Democrats who campaigned on ethics themes. One is Mitchell, who unseated Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) in large part by stressing Hayworth's links to Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist. The others are Zack Space (Ohio), who took the Republican-leaning district of convicted former representative Robert W. Ney, and Michael A. Arcuri (N.Y.), who ran on corruption themes to take the district vacated by retiring Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R)....The rules change on earmarks, or lawmakers' pet projects, is expected to differ from the proposal Democrats outlined earlier this year, the aides said. That rule would mandate that home-district projects be identified by the names of their congressional sponsors. Pelosi wants to make sure that change applies to projects in spending bills as well as in policy bills, such as the broad highway and transit law that passed in 2005. Tax breaks known as rifle shots, narrowly targeted to benefit only a few companies or individuals, are also expected to face more scrutiny.

sure sounds like big city machine politics to me.... to hold on to power one has to spread the wealth around.

2007 is going to be a very good year

So far she's doing a great job.

Instead of forwarding one big bill, Democrats will put together an ethics package on the House floor piece by piece, allowing incoming freshmen to take charge of high-profile issues and lengthening the time spent on the debate.

After Pelosi stepping into the Murtha-Hoyer contest and Rangel's episode of explosive logorrhea, I was getting concerned that nobody in the new majority has a clue about the art of practical politics. This bit of sharp maneuvering is a good sign.

while lifting the strict rules that Republicans used to curtail dissent

One hopes that they'll have the sense to bundle each bit of extra leeway for the new minority with some reform that will force them to hold their nose while voting for the package.

It's not often the working man has the finest political intelligences, bar none, on his side, but I have a feeling that this intake is going to be pretty special. I'm encouraged by what we've learnt about them so far, to hope so.

attention and the Dems get to cite "chapter & verse" - every GOP sin for the last 25 years.

:kick:

Thanks to separation of powers (a largely-forgotten idea), the Executive really can't do much of anything about Congressional rules.

i hope this is the way things work from now on

I wonder how this will affect the usual backscratching it takes to get the average piece of legislation through? Could end up with worn down fingernails and sore backs.

Which means enabling and legitimizing far right policies? I guess that we shall see.

Failing to mariginalize the Republicans and their DINO allies will prove to be a big mistake....

The GOP marginalizes itself--this will merely shine the light on their wacky ideas and high crimes, while writing into law good policy and safeguards. The DINOs, meanwhile, will have no place to hide!

...if the people respect our attempts to go out of our way to not be like the last yahoos...

Duke

I'd pay money to see that.

Just MHO.

dilly-dally and put off any uncomfortable topics. Otherwise, sounds great and every ethics issue should get the attention it deserves.

I'll be watching my congressman Zack Space as he gets time in the sun right away. This is a terrific way to give support to the new members. Go Nancy.

Getting the junior members (by definition, backbenchers) involved will also give them experience that they have been denied by the ironclad rules of the Republican Reich to organize the debate schedule with Steny, and the Committee Chairs and to actually draft legislation and amendments.

Who knows? There might be a shining star out there at organization that is only waiting to be tapped.

Even more importantly, in longitudional analysis, the ability for a new member to have sponsored a major piece of reform legislation is a huge plus for getting her name known, as the reelection campaign began on the 8th this month!

I would like to see it on other issues as well, not just reform. Nancy, Steny and the Chairs will still effectively control the House, but not as dictators as did BugMan's proxies.

And agree with many of you who say this should extend to other legislation as well. Enough with the mega-legislation. Bills packed with a bazillion earmarks, poison pills and other sneaky provisions that escape all media notice, bills so unwieldy in breadth and length that Congress members admit not actually reading or having fully familiarized themselves with.

Yes.