Sens. Feingold, Obama to push Office of Public Integrity plan in ethics reform bill

The Democrats have some good momentum on ethics. Let's hope they keep it up.


Sens. Feingold, Obama to push Office of Public Integrity plan in ethics reform bill
By Elana Schor

Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) have unveiled details of a reform bill they will introduce during floor debate next week on leadership-backed lobbying and ethics legislation, laying down a marker for possible amendments aimed at beefing up the measure.

Many of the Feingold-Obama bill's provisions would bring the Senate's ethics bill in line with the House package that passed overwhelmingly Wednesday and are expected to be part of any leadership amendment to the Senate bill. But the Democratic duo, considered Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) ethics point men, also aim to push the Office of Public Integrity plan offered last year by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).

The public integrity office would be an independent panel empowered to probe alleged violations by members, aides and lobbyists, and make recommendations for enforcement. Government watchdog groups traditionally allied with the Democratic agenda have lined up behind the proposal, which gained renewed support from Collins, Lieberman, Feingold and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) last month.

Reid and Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) both opposed the new independent office in a floor vote last year, although Feinstein pledged to hold a hearing on the concept in her panel. House Democrats have postponed consideration of their own Office of Public Integrity plan until a bipartisan task force reports back to leadership in the spring.

The Feingold-Obama package goes beyond the House-passed ethics package in some respects, including a requirement that conference reports be furnished publicly on the Internet at least 48 hours prior to the vote and a point of order to strike so-called "out of scope matters" added at the last minute to conference reports. Both of those provisions were part of last year's Senate bill.

Feingold's office did not immediately return a call for comment on whether the package would be broken down into individual amendments for floor submission next week or whether other senators would co-sponsor the bill. Democrats gathered for an all-day retreat at the Library of Congress on Friday that includes speeches by former President Bill Clinton and former Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell (Maine).

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/010407/ethics.html