Congressional Gifts and Travel: Legislative Proposals for the 109th Congress

It has been a decade since the House and Senate examined their rules on the acceptance of gifts and travel expenses. Press accounts of alleged excesses in privately funded congressional travel and gifts, particularly from lobbyists, have provided an impetus for proposed changes in the 109th Congress. Legislative proposals introduced thus far and related to congressional gifts and travel all focus on some aspect of lobbyists and lobbying and include changes to (1) requirements for the disclosure reports required by the Lobbying Disclosure Act; (2) permissible gifts given to Members of Congress under the current congressional gift rules; and (3) the various types of officially-connected travel Members, officers, and employees of Congress are allowed under current rules. The bills addressing some or all of these issues in the 109th Congress are H.R. 2412, introduced by Representative Martin Meehan; H.R. 3177, introduced by Representative George Miller; S. 1398, introduced by Senator Russ Feingold; S. 2128, introduced by Senator John McCain; and H.R. 4575, introduced by Representative Christopher Shays. This report provides an analysis of the proposals for change introduced or discussed in the 109th Congress and will be updated as events warrant. For additional information, please refer to CRS Report RL33065, Lobbying Disclosure: Background and Legislative Proposals, 109th Congress, by Eric Peterson, and CRS Report RL33234, Lobbying Disclosure and Ethics Proposals Related to Lobbying Introduced in the 109th Congress, A Comparative Analysis, by Eric Peterson. Source: Congressional Research Service

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