Word: capitols
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With Washington reeling from the Abramoff lobbying scandal and Republicans and Democrats alike pledging to crack down on influence peddling, with one lawmaker already gone from Capitol Hill because he traded favors for cash, you're probably guessing this isn't the best time for members of Congress to dispense a fortune in favors to their friends...
...they do while the deal is re-vetted. That would allow a new review through the administration's Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. (CFIUS). Administration officials remain adamant that their first review was thorough and proper, so the face-saving element was crucial, according to one Capitol Hill negotiator. Frist is proposing that this time, CFIUS do the extra 45-day review that the law calls for in transactions where there are national security concerns. That provision was not triggered last time because administration officials had no remaining concerns at the end of the first review. This approach...
...time when the excesses of the Jack Abramoff scandal have prodded Congress to at least go through the motions on lobbying reform, the dizzying merry-go-round of staffers like Shockey show just how hard it is to really change the way things are done on Capitol Hill. Granted, many lobbyists chase pork and members of Congress regularly exchange favors with webs of family and ex-aides. But Shockey's straddling of K Street and Capitol Hill is particuarly poignant and visible-even if, as in most cases, his lawyer and spokesman say it is all perfectly legal...
...Shockey's career is a case study in how the game works. When he left Capitol Hill for the lobbying world in 1999-after spending more than eight years working for Rep. Jerry Lewis, a Republican from California who had chaired key subcommittees-many of his new clients, including muncipalities, hospitals and lesser-known universities, were from Lewis's district. After years of getting paid to represent them on the Hill, he was now getting paid a lot more to represent them on the Hill...
...addition to the Capitol Hill protest, five mainline Christian denominations issued a joint-statement, and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference launched an ad-campaign asking Christians to lobby against the bill. Despite all of this opposition from a diverse array of religious groups, many self-declared Christian politicians went ahead and voted for this bill, showing that they were at best misguided in their faith and at worse disingenuous...