Senate Nears Passage of New Ethics Bill

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate hopes to at least partially erase the black eye of lobbying scandal with passage of broad legislation to ensure that lobbyists and lawmakers reduce their financial ties and are more open about their contacts.

With another eye on the fall elections, senators are likely to give wide approval to the legislation that bans accepting meals from lobbyists, requires pre-approval of privately funded trips and slows the movement by retiring lawmakers to jobs as lobbyists. A vote could come Wednesday.

Both House and Senate leaders have made lobbying and ethics reform a priority this year after the influence-peddling scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the conviction of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., on bribery charges further eroded popular opinion of Congress.

"We're dealing with a reality here that public confidence in Congress is very low, it is perilously low," said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, a leading sponsor of the legislation.

But many were dissatisfied with the final product, saying it didn't go far enough to cut unhealthy ties between lawmakers and lobbyists. The Senate bill does not ban privately funded trips, and on Tuesday the Senate defeated a priority of clean government groups: a proposal to establish an independent Office of Public Integrity to carry out investigations of possible ethics violations by senators.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_go_co/congress_ethics_5

Republican controlled Senate passing an Ethics bill ????

this is a joke isn't it?

They supported cloture on the bill, though it was largely non satisfactory and had not dealt with most major issues.

List of senators who voted NO for cloture (though McCain voting NO is laughable given the fact that he is cozying up to Delay).

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00079