New lobbying reforms for US government November 12, 2006
Posted by Al in : politics , trackbackIf ever there’s been a piece of legislation which could make you say “About time, too!” – then this is it. The Democratic House Leader, a Mrs Nancy Pelosi, has put forward a bill that aims to cut the influence of big business, or at least big bucks, on both Congress and the Senate. You can read more here and here. The proposed measures of the bill include:
- No House member may accept any gift of any value from lobbyists, or any firm or association that hires lobbyists;
- Lawmakers would be barred from riding corporate jets for official travel but could still do so on campaign and political trips;
- Lawmakers and staffers would have to wait two years, not one as currently, to lobby their former colleagues;
- House members will no longer be able to slip in special-interest projects on unrelated legislation;
Now to me these proposals seem perfectly correct, and should help reduce the influence of business upon politics. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act should hopefully do exactly what it says it should do – the name’s good. What I can’t understand is how America let itself slip into such a terrible position in the first place. Still, let’s hope that now Bush’s people have been ousted there can be some form of honesty in government. Who knows, maybe he’ll be made accountable in the same way as well.
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