Caught up in a frenzy of reform, Congress is seeking to drastically change the way business is conducted. Both parties are looking to capitalize on the issue of lobbying reform, albeit for different purposes. Republicans desperately want to put the recent scandals behind them, while Democrats are focusing on recapturing control of Congress and how they would do a better job of running it. Public interest groups have criticized both parties for not going far enough.

At the forefront of the reform effort is the issue of earmarks, where an elected official secures funding for a specific program or project, usually in their state. The unprecedented level of earmarks in SAFETEA-LU is often cited as highlighting the need for reform. Republicans and Democrats are offering a variety of proposals that would provide transparency to the process by disclosing who requests earmarks, prohibiting an earmark to groups the member of Congress has a financial stake in, and limiting the number of earmarks, but neither party is seeking to ban them.

A number of other reform measures are being proposed, for example: prohibiting members and staff from attending sporting or entertainment events paid for by lobbyists; prohibiting travel on corporate jets or forcing lawmakers to pay the charter rate rather than a comparable first-class fare; prohibiting members and staff from accepting free lunches from lobbyists or setting a nominal value (such as $20) as the limit, and ending privately funded travel or limiting it strictly to educational groups.

Any such reform proposal would need to be accepted by both the House and the Senate or else vastly different and confusing rules could result. Congress would also have to change the law for those rules to apply to how campaign funds are raised. Most of the reforms listed above may be prohibited for members of Congress acting in an official capacity, but be perfectly legal if that person is raising funds for his or her campaign account.

These types of reforms, however, are unlikely to fix the problem. As some critics have stated, reforms aimed at lobbyists miss the boat. They suggest that Congress needs to do more to reform itself. NSSGA will keep abreast of the various lobbying reform proposals as they are introduced and weigh in as may be appropriate.

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