A lobbying and ethics reform bill that barely passed the House last week is headed to what will likely be a contentious conference between the House and Senate, with lawmakers far from agreement on what to do about legislative earmarks, congressional travel paid by non-governmental entities, and 527 organizations, among other issues.

H.R. 4975, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act, narrowly passed on May 3 by a vote of 217-213. Eight Democrats voted for the bill despite an active whip effort by Democratic Leadership and criticism by government-watchdog groups, while 20 Republicans voted against the bill. Most of the dissenting Democrats were so-called "frontline" members--potentially vulnerable incumbents--wary that a "no" vote would be an effective element of campaign attack ads in the fall.

With House passage, the Senate and House must now name conferees to work out differences between the House bill and S. 2349, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act, the Senate version that passed on Mar. 29. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), who has yet to name conferees, has said he would like to complete a conference agreement before the Memorial Day recess. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has said he intends to name conferees early this week, but the House must appoint conferees before the Senate announces its conference members.

Although Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) remains hopeful that the Senate would prevail on any contentious conference debates, saying, "It's going to be a stronger bill thanks to the Senate," the conferees will have an uphill battle. It is unclear what provisions will survive the potentially divisive conference. Contentious provisions include:

• Grassroots Lobbying: In the Senate, the bill currently includes a provision that changes the trigger for registering from $24,500 in a 6-month period to $10,000 in a 3-month period. The bill also requires quarterly, electronic reporting by registered lobbyists, including disclosure of campaign contributions, gifts, and lobbyists' past congressional and executive branch employment, but does not include disclosure of expenditures for grassroots lobbying or coalitions. There is no similar provision in the House bill.

   

• 527 organizations: The House package incorporates H.R. 513, which applies Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) restrictions to independent 527 organizations so that they can no longer raise unlimited amounts of money, and eliminates restrictions on party-coordinated expenditures. There is no comparable language in the Senate bill.

   

• Revolving Door: In the House, the one year "cooling off period" remains intact; however, the Senate bill lengthens the ban to two years.

   

• Gifts, Meals and Drinks: In the House, the current $50-per-item and $100-per-year limits on gifts and meals that a member can receive from each lobbyist or organization would remain in place but would be re-evaluated by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. In the Senate bill, senators and aides would be barred from accepting meals or drinks from registered lobbyists, but they would be able to accept meals valued up to $50 from others.

   

• Privately Funded Travel: The House bill requires the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to recommend new trip guidelines by June 15. Until then, travel itineraries are to be submitted to the committee for pre-approval under a two-thirds vote. After the guidelines are in place, the committee would certify trips under its standard procedures. The Senate legislation bars lobbyists from all trips. The Ethics Committee must certify that the trip was for primarily educational purposes, and the senator must submit and post a report on his or her website detailing meetings and events of the trip.

   

• Earmarks: The House would require conference reports for appropriations bills to list all earmarks and identify their sponsors, and would make any earmark not properly disclosed subject to a point of order. In the Senate bill, all bills, amendments and conference reports--whether for appropriations, tax bills, or authorizations--would have to identify the lawmaker responsible for each earmark and its purpose. The legislation would make subject to a point of order any earmark added by a conference committee to any bill. Conference reports would be posted on the Internet at least 48 hours before a Senate vote. Both measures exempt earmarks to federal entities.

Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier will likely be on the conference committee, as he is charged with making good on a promise made to appropriators by Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) that no bill will come out of conference unless it extends earmark overhaul measures beyond the annual spending bills to tax and authorizing legislation.

There is little support on the House side for a complete gift ban. In addition, extending the revolving door ban gained little traction after facing opposition from senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who voted against final passage of the bill. Senate Democrats are expected to fight the House-passed language that curbs 527 organizations.

The Office of Management and Budget released a Statement of Administration Policy in support of the House bill. "Strengthening the ethical standards that govern lobbying activities is a necessary step to enhance that trust and provide the public with a more transparent lawmaking process," the statement said. It went on to state the provisions in the bill addressing earmarks were necessary to help "improve the budget process and reduce wasteful and unnecessary spending."