Democrats to unveil bill tightening lobbyist rules

WASHINGTON -- Democratic members of Congress today will unveil a sweeping proposal to tighten lobbying restrictions and reporting requirements, as controversy swirls around embattled House majority leader Tom DeLay and his ties to former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The bill would crack down on improper congressional junkets by banning trips for members of Congress and their staffs if foreign agents pay the bills. It would also require organizations that pay for such trips to disclose in advance where the money came from, and guarantee that they are not operating as fronts for lobbyists.

The measure would also double the amount of time that former lawmakers and top staff members must wait before they can lobby Congress after leaving office, from one year to two. Fines for violations would be increased, new House committees would be created to ensure compliance with the new laws, and a searchable database would be created to bring more public awareness of lobbying activities.

Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat who is one of the bill's two primary sponsors, said the recent ethics allegations against DeLay and other members who have engaged in questionable practices demonstrate the need for the first major overhaul of lobbying regulations in a decade.

''The system needs fundamental change, and I think these scandals are endemic of a larger problem," Meehan said. ''There's an ethical cloud hanging over Congress today."

Meehan said K Street, the Washington locale of many lobbying firms, ''has really become Congress's back office. That's where the bills are written; that's where the deals get made."

The bill is being introduced as Democrats seek to gain political advantage from the DeLay allegations and the ongoing investigations of Abramoff. Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the bill's cosponsor, has said voters are tired of a Republican majority that is too close to special-interest lobbyists.

The bill figures to be a tough sell in the GOP-controlled Congress, particularly as Republican leaders move to defend DeLay, one of the party's most powerful members. The bill will be referred to the Committee on House Administration, whose chairman, Representative Robert W. Ney, Republican of Ohio, has also faced questions about his relationship with Abramoff. A Ney spokesman said yesterday that the chairman will review the bill after it is filed and will not comment until he has seen it.

DeLay has come under scrutiny in a number of areas, including allegations that he violated ethics rules by taking luxury trips overseas that were paid for by lobbyists and registered agents for foreign interests. His close ties to Abramoff, an influential political insider who is under federal and congressional investigation for his work on behalf of Indian tribes and other groups, have drawn particular fire to DeLay, a Texas lawmaker who is the second-ranking Republican House member.

Yesterday, the controversy around Abramoff widened with the disclosure that two DeLay aides and two House Democrats had their travel expenses initially paid by Abramoff's firm, an apparent violation of ethics rules. The Associated Press reported that the aides and Representative James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, and Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, traveled to the South Pacific islands and Abramoff's lobbying firm picked up the tab, but the congressmen initially reported that the trip was paid for by a private, not-for-profit firm.

The Democrats' bill probably wouldn't have prevented some of the apparent irregularities surfacing around Abramoff, said Bill Allison, a spokesman for the government watchdog group Center for Public Integrity. But those allegations underscore problems in the existing ethics system, and could provide momentum for reform, he said.

''It's generally only when somebody's been caught that there's momentum for change," Allison said.