GOP Lobbyists Have A Boehner
By Newly elected House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he opposed efforts to ban privately funded travel for members of Congress and provisions in spending bills that fund lawmakers’ pet projects.
The views of Boehner, elected by his GOP colleagues on Thursday to succeed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), make it less likely that the more far-reaching proposals to restructure lobbying will become law. In interviews on a pair of television talk shows, Boehner amplified his earlier concerns about such broad responses to the Jack Abramoff scandal, including proposals offered by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
“In the past, when these scandals have erupted, what’s happened is Congress has overreacted, and two days later nobody knew what happened,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” He said he would favor more disclosure of dealings with lobbyists but would not seek complete bans on travel or “earmark” provisions. “Bringing more transparency to this relationship, I think, is the best way to control it. But taking actions to ban this and ban that, when there’s no appearance of a problem, there’s no foundation of a problem, I think, in fact, does not serve the institution well.”
Yes, let’s wait for a problem! Sure, in some hypothetical world where a new Majority Leader took office because his predecessor was indicted you may want to do something radical like considering policy changes. But for the time being, changing the name on the office door is more than enough!