I think it was a smart move on the part of the Democrats.

I hope we'll all respond negative -- positively, not negatively, to that plea.

Our commitment to winning the war on terror compels us to ask this question, are the president's policies the best way to win this war?

Senator John McCain will join us.

We are more than eager to accept additional changes, and we need to do that in a bipartisan fashion.

We are not going to fix this system until we fix the earmarks.

I want to thank you and Senator Lieberman for holding this important hearing.

It is disgraceful, this process.

We should not forget that we, as Members of Congress, owe it to the American people to conduct ourselves in ways that reinforce rather than diminish the public's faith and confidence in Congress.

I look forward to working with you and Senator Lieberman and the entire Committee to develop the strongest possible lobbying and ethics reform package.

I believe firmly that the Constitution calls for the Senate to advise and consent.

We are going to do a lot of window dressing, but in the long run, we are not going to change anything until we change the motivation that the next election is more important than anything else.

The problem is us.

Transparency and reporting solves all that, not more rules, not more pads, not more things to mark down, but the fact is the American people need to see what we do and how we do it.

I don't believe lobbying reform is the problem. I believe Congress is, and we are going to do a lot of things over the next 3 to 6 months that are going to look good on paper, but until you change the motivations of the institution, you…

This needs to be a cooperative and bipartisan effort.

I think that there is a tremendous amount of commonality here.

The reforms that were enacted 10 years ago made improvements in both lobbying disclosure and Congressional gift requirements.