Yesterday, the House voted overwhelmingly (411-8) to pass the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 -- a new set of lobbying and ethics reforms of broad and, in some instances, unprecedented scope. Never before has Congress sought to require earmarks disclosure by law, for example. OMB Watch has commented frequently on this bill, most recently here, here, and here. And today, OMB Watch issued a press release urging final passage and further reforms down the road.

OMB Watch has put out letters urging support for the SCHIP expansion bills now moving in the House and Senate.

• Senate letter
• House letter

The Senate bill will probably get a vote either today or tomorrow, while the House will probably vote either tomorrow or Thursday.

Tomorrow is the day of the grand summit between President Bush and Democratic leaders on the 2008 federal budget. The summit -- an attempt to reconcile their differences regarding the budget -- was announced last Wednesday. Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad remarked that the meeting could be a key to Nussle's confirmation to head OMB: "It will certainly be affected by that [meeting]."

Today, the Democratic leadership in Congress released their long-awaited compromise lobbying and ethics bill - The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (text of the legislation). The bill is 107 pages long, but already there has been some criticism of changes to the bill, particularly the earmark disclosure sections (see Mark Tapscott's reaction and the Porkbusters blog for a sampling). Two Senators, Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) - whose amendment to the bill earlier this year on earmark disclosure greatly strengthen the bill - have also posted disappointing reactions. At first glance it does appear the final version of the bill is not as strong (i.e. transparent) as the original and it is unclear why those changes were adopted at this point in the debate. DeMint has announced he will offer an amendment during final consideration of the bill to "restore real earmark reform." It's yet to be seen whether that amendment will be adopted of if this version is the best the House and Senate will be able to do this year.