Political Quotes

“today, I am introducing new legislation to build on the excellent work my colleagues began with the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. That bill would close the revolving door between Capitol Hill and lobbying jobs. It would end all lobbyist-funded gifts, meals, and travel, and it would shine a bright light of monitoring and public disclosure on lobbyists' operations, secret conference committee negotiations and last-minute special-interest provisions. These are important steps forward that should be approved by this Congress and signed into law. The first bill I am introducing now builds on these steps by focusing on enforcement. We can pass all the new ethics rules in the world, but if we don't establish a body that can monitor and enforce those rules, it'll be easy to break them. My legislation will establish a nonpartisan, independent Congressional Ethics Enforcement Commission that would investigate ethics violations and report their findings to the public. The idea of an independent Commission to conduct initial investigations is not new. It is modeled on successful efforts in a number of States including Kentucky, Florida, and Tennessee. Similar commissions in those States have a track record of working well and making the ethics enforcement process much more effective.…”