David Vitter: “I stand to use this opportunity to again focus us on what I think is a very significant issue in this ongoing ethics and…”

“I stand to use this opportunity to again focus us on what I think is a very significant issue in this ongoing ethics and lobbyist debate, and that is the unfortunate practice, in my opinion, and the very clear and huge opportunity for abuse that exists when spouses of sitting Members, Senate or House, are lobbyists and act as lobbyists. Now, the underlying bill and the underlying substitute, as we all know, have a prohibition on this issue, and it simply says in that case the spouse lobbyist can't directly lobby the Member he or she is married to, and that is good. I hope we all agree with that. I hope that is a no-brainer, an absolute minimum we would all agree to. I have an amendment on which I look forward to voting in the very near future. It is amendment No. 9. That would broaden that in a way that I think is absolutely necessary. That would simply be a broadening to say that a spouse cannot lobby any Member of Congress, House or Senate.”