Victor Fazio: “In 1989 a bipartisan task force was created and reported to this Congress a package of ethics reforms that I think are…”

“In 1989 a bipartisan task force was created and reported to this Congress a package of ethics reforms that I think are historic. Certainly that is what President Bush said when he signed them into law. They prohibited Members from accepting honoraria for speeches, a practice that was very prevalent here, and played into charges of special interest dominance; we severely restricted the ability of Members to receive outside income, in other words we could no longer put our name on the door of a law firm and draw down an income; we provided stricter financial reporting requirements which cover not only Members but all high-paid employees of this branch of government and others in the other two branches; we repealed the loophole that said we could take our campaign funds with us when we left Congress as income and live off them, and regrettably some had taken large sums with them; we restricted the ability to lobby in post-employment periods; and we also made a number of other changes that were fundamental and much acclaimed.”