Congressional Lobbying Reform

One of the more important provisions in the House lobbying reform bill is an amendment offered by Congressman Mike Castle, and adopted by the House. As the bill heads to conference with the Senate, I hope it is retained and makes it into law. That provision would make lobbyists liable for violating House gift rules. They would in effect be as responsible as staffers for policing the law.

Under current law, Members of Congress and their staffs are subject to penalties when they accept gifts in violation of the law: no single gift worth more than $50, and no gifts in excess of $100 in value from a particular person in a year. Additionally, these gifts are supposed to be disclosed by the recipient.

That said, I know there are situations where lobbyists discuss the idea of giving gifts that are prohibited under the gift rule - either because the gift itself is worth more than $50, or because the recipient would wind up exceeding the $100 limit from a specific person. It does not escape the attention of the lobbyist that the law does not place the burden on him/her, but puts it instead on the Congressional staffer. You wind up in a situation where the idea is at least discussed whether to offer the gift, and leave it up to the staffer whether to accept it.

Under the Castle amendment, the lobbyist who knowingly offers such a gift would be liable for a fine of up to $50,000. While criminals like Jack Abramoff probably could not be deterred by any penalty, this change will probably go a long way to eliminating any 'run-of-the-mill' lawbreaking that must surely go on.

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