There is a comment I’ve heard for years from players on both sides of the aisle on changing the rules governing raising political money: No unilateral disarmament.

And that’s true to some degree on the matter of lawmakers’ taking subsidized corporate flights.

Often, members of Congress from both parties use these planes to travel to fundraisers. There’s a lot of scrambling now that the House and Senate may actually be making some changes. Some House and Senate members, in a preemptive move, have announced voluntary changes on taking gifts, meals, trips and cheap charters.

Until the rules are changed for everybody, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will continue to take discounted flights on corporate planes. So will Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

After taking 23 trips on private planes in 2005, his first year in office, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the new Democratic spokesman for ethics and lobbying reform, last month said one of his campaign funds will pay the market rate. Current rules call for a lawmaker to pay only the cost of a first-class ticket — much cheaper than the thousands of dollars it takes to charter a plane.

I talked about the situation on these plane trips with Hastert deputy Mike Stokke a few days ago. I brought it up since the issue of corporate jet travel is one of the items that may change in the wake of GOP ethics and lobbying scandals.

A bill written by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) would ban discount travel on planes provided by corporate or other special interests. It’s not only the favor of the cut-rate plane; in some cases, not all, it’s granting extraordinary access for company officials.

Stokke had a few points worth passing on, especially on self-imposed bans. It’s not just a matter of doing the right thing; it is figuring out if what you are doing in the name of “reform” matters.

If the concern is that lobbyists or corporate officers would have extraordinary access — well, that would still be the case if the company wanted the lobbyist to fly along, no matter how much was paid. So, what’s the point?

Carl Forti, NRCC spokesman, said that Reynolds “occasionally” takes such rides. “And yes he will,” Forti said, reimburse “at the rate the FEC dictates.”

As a practical matter, if McCain et al. force full payment for private planes, two things may happen: Lawmakers in demand for fundraisers will just charter their own planes, or they won’t make as many trips since it will be too expensive to bring them in.

In the case of the Speaker, there are also security concerns. No one wants the Speaker, in the line of succession, on an unsecured aircraft with fly-by-night pilots. I’d have no problem for a Speaker using a government aircraft — with campaigns paying the real, honest-to-goodness full costs for political trips.

• NRCC donor retreat at resort. Last month, Hastert cancelled “destination” events for his donors in Hawaii and Florida. Tomorrow, the top House leadership flies to Phoenix for a big donor weekend.

That’s new Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio); NRCC Finance Chairwoman Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.); Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio); Hastert; Reynolds; Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), in the running for new NRCC chief, and Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.).

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it