honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 2:24 p.m., Thursday, August 2, 2007

Akaka, Inouye help Senate pass ethics bill

By DENNIS CAMIRE
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Hawai'i's two Democratic senators voted today for an ethics bill to force more disclosure on lawmakers' efforts to pay for special projects and lobbyists' efforts to influence them.

The bill, approved 83-14, now goes to President Bush for his signature.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye said he was pleased "Congress approved the bill.

"It is a wide-ranging bill whose provisions include denying pensions to lawmakers convicted of crimes such as bribery and perjury, ends subsidized travel on corporate jets and increases transparency in the legislative process," Inouye said.

Inouye, a subcommittee chairman on the Senate Appropriations Committee, also said he was pleased that even before the bill was approved, the committee started requiring senators to identify their special projects, called earmarks, in spending bills.

Provisions in the ethics bill require Internet disclosure of earmarks 48 hours before a vote and lawmakers also have to state their families would not directly benefit financially from them.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka called the bill "historic legislation that will reform the way we conduct our business."

Under the bill, lawmakers and political candidates would have to disclose the names of lobbyists who "bundle" contributions of $15,000 or more for them within a six-month period and lobbyists would have to disclose more frequently their spending on lobbying activities.

"It is important that we, members of Congress, hold ourselves to the highest ethical standard and passing the (bill) is a historic step in that direction," Akaka said.