Congress Approves Comprehensive Ethics Bill

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The Senate passed a comprehensive lobbying reform bill, already approved by the House, that will require lawmakers to detail campaign funding and identify their appropriations earmarks before there is a vote. The vote was 83-14 in the Senate and 411-8 in the House. It has been termed the most far reaching ethics reform since Watergate. The bill would also end secret “holds” in the Senate. These allow a single senator to block action without disclosing that he or she has done so That happened to the FOIA reform OPEN Government Act in the Senate this year. (8/3/07)