The Democratic Lobbying Reform Proposal
by Matt Stoller, Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 02:10:37 PM EST
It is of course quite possible that there is some devious strategy of getting lobbying reform 'out of the way' and then filing an ethics complaint or something. Anything's possible, I suppose.
The letter text itself is below the flip.
January 25, 2006Dear Democratic Colleague:
Last Wednesday, Democrats met in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress and promised the American people to do all in our power to end the culture of corruption that has pervaded official Washington and directly resulted in policies harmful to most Americans.
We did this because Americans pay when lobbyists are granted special access in the legislative process and democratic procedures are abandoned on the floor of the House. Americans are paying for the cost of corruption in many ways: a prescription drug bill that puts the greed of pharmaceutical companies ahead of the need of senior citizens for prescription drugs; energy legislation that gives tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies while Americans pay record prices at the pump and for home-heating; and a waiver of liability so that vaccine manufacturers can profit while Americans can be hurt.
To end this culture of corruption and restore integrity and openness to the House, Democrats pledge to enact and vigorously enforce sweeping legislation that will:
Ban gifts and travel from lobbyists.Kill the K Street Project that trades legislative access for Republican only employment.
Stop the revolving door between government and lobbyists by extending the lobbying ban to two years.
End the "dead of night" special interest provisions and require disclosure of earmarks.
Prohibit cronyism in key appointments.
Eliminate contracting abuses like those benefiting Halliburton.
Next week we will introduce the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2006, a summary of which is attached. We ask each of you to join us in sponsoring this landmark legislation. To do so please call Bernie Raimo at 50100 as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
/s /s /s
NANCY PELOSI STENY HOYER JAMES E. CLYBURN
What I find kind of amusing is that the committee's office doesn't seem to have mail merge. I mean Moveon.org can personalize its emails to millions.
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