Today, the House passed the lobbying reform bill. Although there are some good provisions in the lobbying bill, one cannot overstate the importance of the missing key component: enforcement. Members will not be held accountable for their actions until Congress implelements strong enforcement measures. We are still waiting for members to target the culture of corruption as effectively as they target their opponents.

The Washington Post [1]reported on the effort to strengthen one key provision about donations. The Senate still has stronger language on the "revolving door":

Democratic leaders suffered a minor setback when some of their freshman members joined most Republicans in approving an amendment the leaders opposed. The item, offered by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would require disclosure of lobbyists' bundled donations not only to individuals but also to political action committees, or PACs. Democrats receive more PAC money than do Republicans, Smith said, and the omission of bundled PAC donations was a loophole "big enough to ride a Democratic donkey through."

The amendment's adoption cleared the way for bipartisan approval of the overall bundling bill.

The Senate in January approved a lobbying package that would require disclosures of bundling and force former lawmakers to wait two years, rather than one, before becoming lobbyists after leaving Congress.

House members last week rejected the two-year "cooling off" period, prompting editorial writers, public watchdog groups and others to accuse Democrats of backing away from their clean-government promises. Party leaders, desperate to avoid further erosion, spent days imploring colleagues to back the bundling disclosure provision even though many rank-and-file members said there is nothing wrong with having lobbyists help raise campaign money.