posted on: Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive and sweeping ethics reform package that is now headed for the Senate, where support for the measure looks promising. The first substantive ethics package in years, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 is designed to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington, and is strongly supported by NCRP.

Designed to curb the impact of lobbyists and special interests in Washington, the bill, which passed by a vote of 411-8, would force lawmakers to detail, on a quarterly basis, where donations are coming from by making the information accessible on the Internet. In addition, “pork projects,” or funds that are appropriated with more respect to Congressmen and their district than actual need, would face stronger scrutiny and disclosure measures. These earmarks, which cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year, would be readily available for scrutiny before passage of any bill that includes them.

As the bill heads to the Senate, we hope that both political parties can come together and vote for the legislation.

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 is one of the bills NCRP supports that is up for debate in the 110th Congress. For an overview of the bills that directly affect NCRP and the non-profit sector as a whole, click here.