Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sen. Majority Leader Frist has put lobby reform back on the calendar! Monday, March 27 at 1 pm, the Senate will begin deliberations on the pending lobby reform bill. It is not clear how they intend to deal with the 70 some amendments still pending.

Reportedly, House GOP leadership is releasing a draft of their lobby reform bill to the rank and file for feedback. Although it was initially thought a bill would be dropped tomorrow before recess, early protests from yesterday's caucus meeting put a kink in the process. Now it seems Blunt is hoping Members take the draft home with them and return with suggestions or changes.

House Republican leaders lobbying package today met with reservations from the rank and file Republican members. Reportedly, Members are concerned about the provisions on privately funded travel, earmarks and gift bans. The draft does not currently contain a grassroots lobby disclosure provision. But it should. Why? Check out our paper on grassroots lobbying. A draft will be available Thursday, but legislation will probably not be introduced until after the St. Patrick's Day recess. According to Congress Daily, the package:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an Internal Revenue Services (IRS) complaint against Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), and American for Tax Reform Foundation (ATR Foundation), asking the IRS to investigate activities by the groups which may violate IRS regulations and require a revocation of their tax-exempt status.