The House rules package for the 111th Congress released today (Jan. 6) includes only one change to House ethics rules. Last month groups called for specific House ethics changes, however, the package is not as extensive as they may have hoped. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has a fact sheet on the changes.

The rules package will amend ethics rules by extending disclosure requirements about job negotiations with outside employers to include the period from when a lawmaker's successor is elected through the end of that lawmaker's service. Those "lame duck" Members had been excluded from the reporting requirement under existing rules.

Meanwhile, according to USA Today; "More than a third of top congressional staffers who left their public service jobs this year went to work for private lobbying firms or other groups seeking to influence the government. [. . . ] So far this year, 32 of the 193 top staffers who left government registered as lobbyists and another 42 went to work for consulting firms, law offices, interest groups and trade associations, the analysis showed."

A separate USA Today article discusses other potential ethics reforms in the upcoming administration, including one commonsense reform, electronic filing of Senate campaign finance reports. "Paper piles up quickly at the Federal Election Commission, where employees thumb through campaign finance reports in quiet cubicles, keying numbers into a database. Thousands of printed pages flow into the office annually from Senate candidates who, unlike their House counterparts, are not required to file reports electronically."

"Advocates say Congress has required more disclosure but argue that problems remain, from cumbersome paperwork to lackluster lobbying disclosure."