Susan Collins: “I express my disappointment at the words of the Democratic leader urging our colleagues to vote against cloture on the…”

“I express my disappointment at the words of the Democratic leader urging our colleagues to vote against cloture on the lobbying reform measure. This is important legislation. This legislation matters. This legislation is bipartisan legislation. It is in response to declining public confidence in the integrity of the decisions made by Government officials. It is extremely unfortunate and unfair for this much needed legislation to be slowed down by an important but completely unrelated issue, regardless of one's views on the Dubai transaction. The Presiding Officer knows I have been outspoken in calling for a full investigation of the national security implications of this transaction, but regardless of one's views on it, this issue should not be tangled up in the debate on whether or not to strengthen our lobbying disclosure laws. We have worked hard to produce a bipartisan bill, two bipartisan bills, that have been married to strengthen our lobbying laws. It is extremely unfortunate to hear the Democrat leader say we should get it done sometime but everyone should vote against cloture. That leads me to question whether there really is a commitment to strengthening our lobbying laws. There is no reason we cannot proceed to the many amendments that have been filed, to debate them fully, let the Senate work its will on each of the amendments, and then clear this legislation so we can go to conference with the House and send the bill to the President's desk.…”