On Thursday , The US House of Representatives are scheduled to debate a bill to reform lobbying on Capitol Hill.
But now that Jack Abramoff has been sentenced and Tom DeLay has left Congress, the House has lost some of it's fervor to really clean up its act.
Neither of New Hampshire's Congressmen, is impressed with the bill offered by the Republican leadership.
NHPR Correspondent Julie Donnelly reports from Washington.
It's 10:30 am in the cafeteria of the Rayburn office building.
It's not what one might call a war room, but it will do.
Lobbyists munch bacon, cinnamon buns, or the occasional banana.
And they plan their strategy for their next meeting with a member of Congress.
I came over to check on my earmarks - one gentleman called out to a colleague.
But those earmarks - special projects secretly tucked into legislation - may soon be under greater scrutiny.
The House is considering a lobbying reform bill that would require those earmarks to be accompanied by an explanation or the name of the member who offered the amendment.
New Hampshire Congressman Charles Bass, long an advocate of earmark reform, was pleased the provision was included in the bill.
But that's just about the only part of the bill that satisfied the second district republican.
"I think this is a baby step in lobbying reform and process reform. I'd like to see this legislation far broader, far stronger and the issue for me is whether I support or vote for something which moves in the right direction - but is being touted as being a solution to a problem I don't think it solves."
Bass hasn't decided yet whether he'll support the bill.
But he also hasn't introduced his own, stronger legislation.
Back in January, Bass offered a tough list of principles for lobby reform.
Then the House Speaker tapped him to be part of the lobby reform task force.
This bill was the result.
Congressman Bradley is also unsatisfied with the bill as it is currently written.
But he says he will wait to see which amendments are included, before he makes a decision.
"What I'll be looking for are issues dealing with travel, earmark reform and disclosure requiremnets for people who lobby".
A provision that would have required lobbyists to disclose any contact they have with a lawmaker was stripped from the bill during the recent two week recess.
Representative Bradley says he hopes to see that provision come back as an amendment.
The first district Republican says he would also like to see all gifts outlawed.
The current bill keeps the current $50 dollar limit on gifts from lobbyists.
And he'd also like to see an end to all privately funded travel.
"I think there are too many question marks that it raises"
The current bill does outlaw privately funded travel - but only until the end of the year - then the provision would expire, and it would be back to business as usual.
Some good government advocates say the bill doesn't address the real issue - and that is enforcement.
Alex Knott from the Center for Public Integrity's Lobby Watch project, says that lobbyists don't even follow the rules that are currently in place.
"one of the bills that Jack Abramoff was working on, were never put on his lobbying disclosure forms. That's a situation that happens all the time. These forms are filed late, they're often not filed. 49 out of 50 of the top lobbying forms have failed to file all their lobbying forms. They're not in compliance with the law."
Right now, the House and Senate ethics committees are supposed to police the two billion dollar lobbying industry.
But Alex Knott says they just don't have the staff to do it properly.
A Senate proposal, pushed by Maine's Susan Collins, would have created an independent office of Public Integrity.
But the full senate defeated that proposal.
Both Congressmen Bass and Bradley say they would likely support some kind of independent office charged with enforcing lobbying rules - if it comes up in the house bill.
So New Hampshire's congressmen are waiting to see if enough amendments are offered to give the lobby reform bill some real teeth.
If not, they'll have to decide whether it's better to do something - or nothing.
For NHPR News, I'm Julie Donnelly in Washington
