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[Page H2326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOSE THE LOBBYIST LOOPHOLE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Rose) for 5 minutes.
Mr. ROSE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues
to support the Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act.
This bill will close a loophole that lobbyists on both sides of the
aisle--and they are lobbyists--have been taking advantage of for far
too long. They have been using it to skirt disclosure under the guise
of just providing strategic guidance for billion-dollar corporations.
You know, when I go back to Staten Island and south Brooklyn, they
see right through this. They see it for what it is, people getting over
on the system on the backs of hardworking Americans. And they are tired
of it.
It is time that we do our job here in the Halls of Congress to end
this. This is the way our jobs should work, because for far too long we
have been allowing lobbyists on both sides of the aisle to undermine
this process and keep our constituents in the dark.
Just look at this--both sides of the aisle. We have seen this in my
own party with former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle:
He laid the blueprint for the shadow lobbying industry. He
did work that looks, smells, and tastes a lot like lobbying,
but the public was in the dark. He earned millions advising
healthcare clients and others about how to navigate Congress
without registering as a lobbyist.
And on the Republican side, the President's former lawyer, the
infamous Michael Cohen, getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
for providing strategic guidance to corporations when, in truth, it was
providing access to the President without ever registering as a
lobbyist. Again:
Used his ties to the President to land consulting
agreements; secretly hired to work on the same issues their
lobbyists were already registered to work on; was paid
millions of dollars to help influence administration policy
without once registering as a lobbyist.
Folks, this is corruption. Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, this is
corruption.
And no matter if you are a Democrat, if you are a Republican, or if
you are an independent, we all see it for what it is.
Now, this is why H.R. 1 is such an essential step. I applaud my
Democratic colleagues for putting a bold anticorruption bill on the
floor of the House this week, of which the Lobbyist Loophole Closure
Act will be a part.
We have got to take this opportunity and push the ball forward
because, for the last 4 years, the American people have been voting for
change. The Republicans called it draining the swamp. The Democrats
called it anticorruption.
The American people are united against the American political class.
They are united against the D.C. political class.
We have got to do something about it, because, if it looks like a
lobbyist, if it talks like a lobbyist, if it acts like a lobbyist,
then, Mr. Speaker, let's call it a lobbyist. Let's disclose it and
regulate it as such.
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