Last week, the Senate Rules Committee and the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee marked up separate versions of lobbying and congressional ethics reform bills, starting the ball rolling in the Senate on reform after the scandals surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA). The two bills are expected to be combined. The resulting bill will likely seek to increasing transparency around the earmarking process; further restrict practices that lead to abuses of power in conference committees; and allow outside advocates and citizens to more easily track decision-making throughout the budget process. The Rules Committee marked up the "Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006" on Feb. 28 and passed the bill out of committee with a unanimous 18-0 vote. The bill, authored by Committee Chairman Trent Lott (R-MS), focuses on disclosure of earmarks and would require a supermajority of 60 senators to approve each earmark if a point of order is raised on the Senate floor. In the past, stripping a provision from a conference report would have sent the entire bill back to committee. Under Lott's proposal, only the earmark provision would be stripped and the bill could continue to move forward, with the revised conference report with the earmark removed being sent back to the House for a vote. Lott had strongly opposed restrictions on earmarks, opting instead for this disclosure mechanism. Lott's original plan, however, only required a simple majority to override a point of order and retain the earmark. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) offered an amendment in committee, which passed, to change the 50-vote point of order to a 60-vote point of order. The term earmarks includes spending bills, authorizing legislation, tax provisions, and other revenue items. It applies to a provision that identifies an entity, other than the federal government, that is to receive funding, through a government contract or grant for instance. Lott's bill would require all such earmarks to be identified clearly by the sponsor and to have an accompanying justification. Any earmarks in a bill, amendment, or conference report also must be made publicly available via the Internet 24 hours before its consideration. The bill would create a new Senate website that would display this information. Other major provisions in the bill include:

• The elimination of floor privileges for former members of Congress, Senate officers and House Speakers who are registered lobbyists, foreign agents, or employed by someone who is lobbying on a legislative proposal.
• A ban on gifts from registered lobbyists or foreign agents. This excludes the cost of meals, however, which would be required to be posted on the Member's website within 15 days and would continue under existing dollar limits.
• A ban on travel that is paid for by registered lobbyists and foreign agents. Lawmakers wanting to accept paid travel from others must receive pre-clearance from the Senate Ethics panel and certify that the travel is not paid for by lobbyists or foreign agents and that the travel sponsor did not receive funds from such sources to pay for the travel. Information about such travel is to be posted to a member's website within 30 days of the trip.
• A provision requiring members or staff to report all details about flights taken on private aircrafts.

On the other side of the Capitol, the House has yet to put much effort into a lobby and ethics reform package, with Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) simply noting he expects lobbying reform legislation to "move in the coming weeks."