Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007

HONEST LEADERSHIP AND OPEN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 31, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee for yielding and thank him for his extraordinary leadership in bringing this bill to the floor and would allay somewhat the grief that is felt by the former chairman of the Rules Committee, the ranking Republican.

Mr. Speaker, on the one hand he says much of this bill is that which we passed last time offered by our friends on the minority side. If that is the case, we, as I understand the premise, we have adopted much of what you have proposed. It's hard to say that you weren't consulted when we have adopted what your contention is, much of what you have proposed. So I would hope that the grief would be allayed in that respect.

Secondly, let me say this. No conference. Why no conference? Because a Republican Member of the United States Senate wouldn't let us go to conference. That's why there was no conference. He stood day after day after day objecting to adopting this important reform package.

As a result, we couldn't go to conference. So you can't complain on the one hand we are not in conference when it is a Republican Senator from South Carolina who day after day, week after week, objected to doing just that.

Today is a proud day for this body. Again, I congratulate my friend, the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Conyers, and a dramatic example of how the Congress that was elected last November pledging to clean up the culture of corruption is making good on its promise.

I will talk about that a little bit at the end in terms of rules are nice, but performance is better. Last January, on the first day of this new, Congress we enacted sweeping ethics changes. Today, with this Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, we have a simple, straightforward purpose, to continue to restore public confidence in the legislative process.

I commend Chairman Conyers, as I have, for his leadership in making possible this comprehensive reform measure. By shining a bright light on the campaign contributions that registered lobbyists bundle for Members of Congress, the conference report before us increases transparency and gives the American people important insight on the legislative process.

By denying Members convicted of crimes their congressional pensions, the conference report ensures that Members who break their oath to uphold the laws of the land will not only suffer public disgrace and criminal sanction, but also lifetime financial loss.

There is no reason for taxpayers to subsidize criminal behavior of Members of Congress. Freshman Member Nancy Boyda deserves a great deal of credit for her work on this provision. By requiring Members engaged in any job negotiations to recuse themselves from any matter in which there is a conflict of interest, the conference report before us will end the practice of Members trying to cash in on the legislation they steer through this body.

I don't know how many of you had the opportunity to watch ``60 Minutes'' this past Sunday and hear the comments of Mr. Burton and Mr. Jones, but that is trying to address that critical problem.

As important as this legislation and the ethics changes made in January are, they alone will not ensure the integrity of our process and this institution. Rather, the Members of this House will ensure the integrity of this House when we conduct ourselves openly and honestly and hold accountable, through a vigorous pursuit of the enforcement of our rules by the Ethics Committee, hold accountable those who abide, do not abide by the rules in the highest ethical standards.

Thus we have an obligation to ensure that the Ethics Committee does the job that it was constituted to perform. It did not do so in the recent Congresses. The implementation of rules, while critical, must be followed by effective real enforcement.

This conference report is an important step forward, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I want to thank Members on both sides of the aisle, including Mr. Smith, for the work that they have done through the years to bring us to this day and close by congratulating Mr. Conyers and the leadership of our Speaker in accomplishing this objective.

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