John Kerry: “today the Senate failed to live up to its responsibility to keep faith with the American people and change the way…”

“today the Senate failed to live up to its responsibility to keep faith with the American people and change the way business is done in Washington. I oppose the lobbying reform bill because it does not go far enough to effectively change the way business is done in Washington. It is not enough to reform the earmarking process. It is not enough to ban gifts and meals from lobbyists. It is not enough to rein in pay- to-play schemes like the Republican K Street project. Changing the rules does no good if we have ineffective enforcement and fundamental reform is needed. It is not reform if business as usual continues and the fox is left guarding the chicken coop. We need an outside entity, whether a congressional inspector general, as I proposed, or an ethics commission, as Senator Obama proposed, or an Office of Public Integrity as Senators Collins and Lieberman proposed, to police Congressional ethics violations. It is wrong that the Senate failed to establish an Office of Public Integrity. Some of my colleagues apparently are fine with the status quo. I couldn't disagree more strongly. We need an independent entity to ensure Members act ethically. We need an independent entity to ensure that no one changes the rules as they play the game as the House tried to do just last year. We need an independent entity to ensure that violations are investigated and that offenders are punished.…”