Editorial: House: Let the freebies roll

Friday, May 5, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

The House ethics bill passed Wednesday was amended to be even weaker than the original version. Written by Republicans, the bill would allow privately funded travel if it is approved by two-thirds of the House Ethics Committee. Originally, the bill banned privately funded travel until the end of the year, when presumably a new travel policy would be ready.

Also included in the bill is a directive to the Ethics Committee to prepare recommendations for a permanent travel policy by June 15. When those recommendations would be acted upon is anybody's guess.

Time-consuming travel votes by the Ethics Committee and a host of travel recommendations that will chew up valuable floor time are not necessary. A permanent ban on privately funded travel would end all of this nonsense.

Why do members of Congress need to freely travel around the world in private jets, usually to exotic vacation spots? They don't, and they know it, but nevertheless most House Republicans want to keep that perk, even though it was at the center of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal that sparked calls for reform in the first place. The bill would require members of Congress to pay the equivalent of first-class air fare for their private flights, but ways to circumvent that rule would be found in the time it takes to stash their luggage.

The so-called reform bill still allows lobbyists to dish out gifts worth $50 to Congress members. Why do people we send to Washington need any gifts at all?

A complete ban on receiving gifts and privately paid travel should be the heart of any reform bill, rather than a few more disclosure periods for lobbyists as this one calls for. A Democratic bill calling for those provisions was defeated.

In voting against the bill, which Nevada Republican Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter supported, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., used such words as "bluff," "sham" and "fig leaf" to describe it. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., criticized the House for not "passing a tough bill like we did." The Senate bill would ban gifts and travel from lobbyists.

The final bill will be hammered out by negotiators for both the House and Senate. If the House prevails in allowing lobbyists to continue their wanton gift-giving, expect more scandals and more laws skewed toward special interests.