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Ethics groups blame AWOL McConnell |
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By Elana Schor
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Posted: 07/13/07 07:41 PM [ET] |
Frustrated by Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) vow to hold up ethics conference talks until earmark reforms are enacted, Democrats and watchdog groups are pointing a finger at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
McConnell is standing idle while DeMint keeps a unanimously approved ethics bill in limbo, Democrats and watchdogs charge. By pressuring the Senate GOP and its leader, not merely the affable freshman who has become the face of the opposition, reform advocates hope to end the Senate’s ethics logjam without forcing a difficult procedural vote to silence DeMint.
“Mitch McConnell is making a big mistake sitting on his hands,” said Craig Holman, legislative representative for Public Citizen. “Now he’s letting his own rank-and-file undermine his image of authority.”
Holman warned that McConnell, long known for his savvy behind-the-scenes maneuvering, would pay the price for appearing to allow DeMint to dictate terms for the lobbying and ethics reform bill, which the Republican leader cosponsored. One Senate Democratic aide agreed that letting DeMint take on Democrats casts doubt on McConnell’s control of the debate.
“Some of the inmates may be running the asylum over there,” the Democratic aide said. “McConnell needs to decide whether he wants to lead or let a few overzealous members of his party run the caucus.”
DeMint is asking Democrats to implement the bill’s earmark disclosure language, which he successfully strengthened over the majority’s objections, through a rules change rather than a statute.
But a GOP leadership aide said blaming McConnell for the delay distracts from Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) role in resolving the impasse.
“Sen. Reid could get this bill to conference in five minutes,” said the GOP aide. “All he has to do is agree to adopt a rule that only applies to the Senate, and has unanimous support in the Senate. Who’s the stubborn one here?”
DeMint yesterday renewed his prediction that Reid and other leaders would water down or yank the earmark reforms during conference talks.
McConnell initially objected to beginning conference talks before the July 4 recess, but relented after Reid promised that no unrelated provisions would appear in the ethics conference report. Since then, McConnell has spoken of “strong support for [the ethics] bill on this side of the aisle,” but DeMint remains dug in.
“The only thing stopping the lobbying and ethics bill from moving forward is the Democrat leadership and their desire to kill meaningful earmark reform behind closed doors,” DeMint said on the floor yesterday. “They may want to hide their opposition to transparency by accusing me of having a secret plan to kill this bill, but Americans know the truth.”
Holman and Fred Wertheimer, president of the Democracy 21 watchdog group, asserted that DeMint’s earmark tactic is a red herring. By focusing on that, opponents of the bill’s more controversial provisions — revolving-door limits and disclosure rules for bundled contributions collected by lobbyists — will have more time to water them down.
“Senator DeMint is asking to run the Senate, and he’s not majority leader or minority leader,” Wertheimer said. “Senator McConnell can’t abdicate his responsibilities here by simply leaving the playing field to Senator DeMint.”
Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, counted McConnell among the tacit opponents of the revolving door and bundling provisions. She predicted that DeMint’s public resistance, rather that siphoning the GOP leader’s influence, would enhance it.
McConnell “is finding ways to keep this issue bottled up, letting senators who have a particular axe to grind to [block it],” McGehee said.
Sources familiar with DeMint’s strategy acknowledged that all sides, including both party leaders, are frustrated by the stalemate. But DeMint’s allies make clear that DeMint is pressing the issue for policy reasons, not to show up McConnell.
In fact, in a May speech at the Heritage Foundation, DeMint urged fellow Republicans to use his earmark reform fight as a guide for recovering their conservative credentials.
According to a transcript, DeMint said that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reid “both backed down” when they accepted his earmark reforms. “In fact, they did more than that. To save face, they offered changes to my amendment making it stronger!”
DeMint’s earmark proposal, which matches language approved by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), includes disclosure of earmarks included in report language rather than bill text and certification from all lawmakers that requested projects would not financially benefit themselves or their spouses.
The capital’s six leading watchdog groups this week asked McConnell to support a cloture motion to cut off debate and head to conference despite DeMint’s objection. Yet Holman, after consulting with Senate floor staff, said filing for cloture on the motion to go to conference would involve the time-consuming and difficult task of calling the ethics bill and its substitute amendment back to the floor, leaving both subject to separate filibusters.
“I hope we don’t have to go that far,” Holman said.
Reid said yesterday that he is planning a way to resolve the ethics roadblock, reiterating his vow to keep the Senate in session through August recess if necessary.
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