Lawmakers Could Face Jail Under Lobby Bill

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers could face loss of retirement benefits and jail if they commit crimes or violate rules on contacts with lobbyists under ethics legislation being put together in the House.

Even with the new penalties, Democrats said the Republican-crafted bill wouldn't go far enough to cleanse Congress of the scandals that have further eroded public confidence in legislators. They pushed for a ban on gifts and meals from lobbyists and a new independent office to oversee ethics issues.

Four House committees on Wednesday and Thursday approved sections of the bill in preparation for a vote by the full House when Congress returns later this month from a two-week Easter recess.

The Senate passed its version of the legislation last month, reacting with relative speed to the fallout from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and the imprisonment of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who confessed to taking bribes.

The House bill would require lobbyists to make more frequent and detailed disclosures of their contacts with lawmakers; impose a moratorium, until the end of this year, on all privately funded travel; and require more information on the pet projects, or earmarks, that make their way into spending bills.

The Judiciary Committee, which approved its section of the bill on a 18-16 vote, approved criminal penalties that could lead, with multiple violations, to up to five years in prison for lawmakers and lobbyists who intentionally fail to report receiving or giving meals and other gifts.

The Government Reform and House Administration committees approved provisions that would deny pension benefits to members of Congress, staff or political appointees in the executive branch convicted of crimes related to public corruption.

The Rules Committee also accepted an amendment that would withhold pay from House employees who do not complete a mandatory ethics training program.

"Nobody is above the law," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who stepped down as chairman of the House Administration panel in January after he was identified in Abramoff's guilty plea as one of the recipients of gifts and contributions the disgraced lobbyist gave out in trying to influence policy. Ney has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Unlike in the Senate, where the lobbying bill passed with bipartisan support, House Democrats complained that they had been shut out of the process and left with a weak bill. "Its objective is to give the semblance of reform without actually doing anything," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Government Reform Committee. "That's Congress at its worst."

In the House Administration Committee Thursday, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., unsuccessfully offered amendments that would have created an office of public integrity to oversee investigations of ethics violations by members and ban travel arranged by organizations that employ lobbyists.

The Senate bill also emphasizes more disclosure of lobbyist activities. It also bans meals and gifts from lobbyists and extends to two years, up from the current one year, the time a retiring lawmaker must wait before taking a job lobbying Congress. It does not ban private travel but requires lawmakers to get pre-approval for trips and report back on activities and participants.

The House bill is H.R. 4975