Minor Senate bill sparks major debate on ethics
By Paul Kane,
WashPost
Thursday, February 2, 12:17 PM
In a sign of just how unpopular Congress has become, rank-and-file senators hijacked this week’s debate over a narrow-tailored conflict-of-interest bill and turned it into the chamber’s most sweeping ethics debate in a generation.
From conservative back-bench Republicans to liberal junior Democrats, senators launched an ethical arms race of amendments by offering far-reaching reforms that were not even considered when Congress last re-wrote its ethics rules five years ago.
Recent polls show Congress’s approval near an all-time low. You’d be surprised at some of the things in history that have been more popular than the current Congress.
Freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment that would require former congressmen to forfeit their federal pension and insurance plans if they become lobbyists after retiring from Capitol Hill. Not to be outdone, freshman Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) offered an amendment that would impose a lifetime ban on lawmakers ever becoming federal lobbyists.
“This is mass repentance for past sins,” Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), who has been trying to manage the floor debate, said half-jokingly as he left the Capitol on Wednesday night.
(More here.)
WashPost
Thursday, February 2, 12:17 PM
In a sign of just how unpopular Congress has become, rank-and-file senators hijacked this week’s debate over a narrow-tailored conflict-of-interest bill and turned it into the chamber’s most sweeping ethics debate in a generation.
From conservative back-bench Republicans to liberal junior Democrats, senators launched an ethical arms race of amendments by offering far-reaching reforms that were not even considered when Congress last re-wrote its ethics rules five years ago.
Recent polls show Congress’s approval near an all-time low. You’d be surprised at some of the things in history that have been more popular than the current Congress.
Freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment that would require former congressmen to forfeit their federal pension and insurance plans if they become lobbyists after retiring from Capitol Hill. Not to be outdone, freshman Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) offered an amendment that would impose a lifetime ban on lawmakers ever becoming federal lobbyists.
“This is mass repentance for past sins,” Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), who has been trying to manage the floor debate, said half-jokingly as he left the Capitol on Wednesday night.
(More here.)
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