Lott Wants Amendments Today, Dems To Offer 17 Amendments
by Guest Blogger, 3/7/2006
From National Journal:
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who is managing this week's floor debate on lobbying laws, said today Senate leaders would not limit the number of proposed amendments to the legislation, but that they would like senators to file their provisions by this afternoon. "We're not going to try to limit amendments, but we're going to try to have them all filed by this afternoon," Lott said. Senators were drafting and redrafting their provisions today, mapping out a strategy for offering the amendments. Senate Democrats plan to offer a package of amendments from their what they call the "Honest Leadership Act" that were not included in the underlying bill during committee markups last week, said Senate Minority Leader Reid. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who is the party's point man on the bill, said he might offer a provision to change the definition of lobbying to address former lawmakers who indirectly lobby Congress by overseeing a firm's strategy on issues. "Lobbyists at these big firms can oversee 40 to 50 lobbyists as long as they never pick up the phone," Obama said.
