The following is the text of a statement by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) on S.2128, a bill to reform lobbying practices. December 16, 2005.

Mr. President, today I introduce legislation to provide greater transparency into the process of influencing our Government and ensure greater accountability among public officials.

The legislation does a number of things. It provides for faster reporting and greater public access to reports filed by lobbyists and their employers under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

It requires greater disclosure of the activities of lobbyists, including for the first time grassroots lobbying firms.

The bill also requires greater disclosure from both lobbyists and Members and employees of Congress about travel that is arranged or financed by a lobbyist or his client.

To understand more thoroughly the actions lobbyists take to influence elected officials, the bill requires lobbying firms, lobbyists, and their political action committees to disclose their campaign contributions to Federal candidates and officeholders, their political action committees and political party committees. It further mandates disclosure of fundraisers hosted, cohosted, or otherwise sponsored by these entities, and disclosure of contributions for other events involving legislative and executive branch officials.

To get behind anonymous coalitions and associations and discover who actually is seeking to influence Government, the bill requires registrants to list as clients those entities that contribute $10,000 or more to a coalition or association. The bill expressly keeps intact, however, existing law governing the disclosure of the identities of members and donors to organizations designated as 501(c) groups under the Internal Revenue Code.

To address the problem of the revolving door between Government and the private sector, the bill lengthens the period during which senior members of the executive, Members of Congress, and senior congressional staff are restricted from lobbying.

The bill also modifies the provision in current law that exempts from the revolving door laws former employees who go to work for Indian tribes by applying these laws to those employees retained by tribes as outside lobbyists and agents.

To ensure compliance with congressional restrictions on accepting gifts, the bill requires registrants under the Lobbying Disclosure Act to report gifts worth $20 or more. I repeat that: The person who gives the gift is now responsible for reporting a gift of $20 or more.

To accurately reflect the true value of benefits received, the bill also requires Members of Congress and staff to pay the fair market value for travel on private planes and the value of sports and entertainment tickets and skyboxes at the cost of the highest priced ticket in the arena. The legislation increases the penalty for violating the reporting requirements, and it contains other provisions on enforcement and oversight.

This bill is regrettably necessary. Over the past year and a half, the Committee on Indian affairs has unearthed a story of excess and abuse by former lobbyists of a few Indian tribes. The story is alarming in its depth and breadth of potential wrongdoing. It has spanned across the United States, sweeping up tribes throughout Indian country. It has taken us from tribal reservations across America to luxury skyboxes in town, from a sham international think tank in Rehoboth Beach, DE, to a sniper workshop in Israel and beyond. It involves tens of millions of dollars that we know about and likely more that we do not.

Much of what the committee learned was extraordinary. Yet much of what we uncovered in the investigation was, unfortunately, the ordinary way of doing business in this town.

The bill I am introducing today seeks to address business as usual in the Nation's Capital. How these lobbyists sought to influence policy and opinionmakers is a case study in the ways lobbyists seek to curry favor with legislators and their aides. For example, they sought to ingratiate themselves with public servants with tickets to plush skyboxes at the MCI Center, FedEx Field, and Camden Yards for sports and entertainment events. They arranged extravagant getaways to tropical islands, the famed golfing links of St. Andrews and elsewhere. They regularly treated people to meals and drinks. Fundraisers and contributions abounded. The bill casts some disinfectant on those practices by simply requiring greater disclosure. If there is nothing inherently wrong with such activities, then there is no good reason to hide them from public scrutiny. The American people deserve no less.

During its investigation, the committee also learned about unscrupulous tactics employed to lobby Members and to shape public opinion. We found a sham international think tank in Rehoboth Beach, DE, established in part to disguise the true identity of clients. We saw phony Christian grassroots organizations consisting of a box of cell phones and a desk drawer.

I submit that in the great marketplace of ideas we call public discourse, truth is a premium that we cannot sacrifice. Through these practices, the lobbyists distorted the truth not only with false messages but also with fake messengers.

I hope by having for the first time disclosure of grassroots activities in the financial interests beyond misleading front groups that such a fraud on Members and voters can be avoided. Many cast blame only on the lobbying industry. But we should not forget that we as Members owe it to the American people to conduct ourselves in a way that reinforces rather than diminishes the public's faith and confidence in Congress.

The bill thus requires more accurate accounting of the benefits and privileges that sometimes come with public office. Requiring lobbyists to disclose all gifts over $20 will cause not only the lobbyist but also the recipient to more scrupulously adhere to existing gift limits. Fair evaluation of tickets to sporting and entertainment events and for air travel aboard private planes is another way of giving real effect to the gift rules of Congress.

I have read news reports that the Department of Justice is investigating job negotiations that some public officials may have had with lobbying firms while still in Government, negotiations that may have compromised their job performance. I have long been concerned with the revolving door between public service and the private sector, how that door is spun to personal gain, and the corrupting influences that can creep through that door into Government decisionmaking. To address the problem, I am proposing to expand the cooling off period to 2 years for Members of Congress and senior staff and certain executive branch officials. And to ensure a level playing field, I am seeking to close a loophole that has existed in Federal conflict-of-interest laws for those who represent Indian tribes.

Informed citizenry is essential to a thriving democracy. A democratic government operates best in the disinfecting light of the public eye. The approach on this bill is thus one of greater disclosure of and transparency into the interactions of lobbyists with our public officials.

The bill is intended to balance the right of the public to know with its right to petition Government, the ability of lobbyists to advocate their clients' cause with a need for truthful public discourse, and the ability of Members to legislate with the imperative that our Government must be free from corrupting influences, both real and perceived.

We must act now to ensure that the erosion we see today in the public's confidence in Congress does not become a collapse of confidence. That is why I would hope my colleagues would carefully examine this measure. I have had conversations with numerous other Members of this body, and I hope that both Republican and Democrat can join together on this issue.

I noted in today's--Friday, December 16--Congress Daily, there is a little chart in the corner, and it says: ``2005 Congressional Approval Ratings.'' I notice a very interesting trend. On February 1 of this year, approximately 40-some percent--about 44 percent--of the people approved, and about 43 percent disapproved. Those numbers have changed somewhat dramatically to a disapproval rating, in the last couple of days, of 64 percent, with a 26-percent approval rating. I repeat: 64 percent disapprove, 26 percent approve.

Now, I am not sure that is divided up between Democrats and Republicans. From my travels--and I have been traveling a lot lately in the last few weeks around the country--I find that disapproval is nonpartisan in nature. I think there are a number of reasons for that disapproval, and many of them I will not chronicle here. But one of them is that there is a deep perception that we do not act on the priorities of the American people, that special interests set our agenda here rather than the people's interest.

Now, I do not pretend that a lobbying reform bill will be the panacea for all the ills that I think beset this Capitol of ours, but I do believe it is part of an effort we all need to make--and seriously make--in order to try to turn these kinds of numbers around, not only for our individual well-being but for the well-being of the people of the United States because it will be more difficult to act effectively if we do not have at least a significant amount of support from the people whom we purport to represent.

I would like to say another word about lobbyists. Lobbying is an honorable profession. I have no problem with it. I have no problem with people working in order to bring the people's interests and agenda and priorities to the attention of Congress. Almost all of us who I know of rely on their input on various issues. Many supply us with policy papers, with data, et cetera.

But, Mr. President--Mr. President--when we have the behavior that we highlighted, what actually was brought to our attention during our Indian Affairs Committee hearings, it is not believable: luxury sports boxes, a sham international think tank in Rehoboth Beach, a sniper workshop in Israel, the list goes on and on. And, of course, the way the Native Americans were treated was especially insulting.

Congress, according to the Constitution, has a special obligation in regard to Indian affairs. But I will tell you what, I greatly fear that these practices we have uncovered concerning Native Americans are far more widespread than just lobbying efforts on behalf of Native Americans--or exploitation of Native Americans is probably the better description.

I do not think there is any doubt that one of the reasons the American people mistrust us is they think there is wrongdoing, if not corruption, in this town. We have an obligation to fix this system as well as we can, and I believe that one of the measures that needs to be taken is to have a lobbying transparency and accountability that can give us confidence.

I note the presence of my friend from Connecticut on the floor whom I have had discussions with on this issue. I have had them with my colleague, Senator Feingold, and many others. I hope we can, over the recess, think about this issue and be prepared to address it as early as possible. We have a long way to go to restore accountability, transparency, and the confidence of the American people.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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On heels of Abramoff scandal, McCain seeks lobbying reforms (12/19)