Ethics in Government

Common Cause was instrumental in passage of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which was enacted on September 14, 2007. The bill strengthens public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding, places more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.

In addition to these improvements, Common Cause has sought independent enforcement of ethics rules in Congress. Over the last several years, the ethics committees in both the House and Senate have fallen short of effectively enforcing the rules of conduct.

At the beginning of the 110th Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) created the House Ethics Task Force to address how an independent body could be established to assist with enforcement of ethics rules. Common Cause has continued to work with members of Congress on the issue, pushing for an independent enforcement body.

Late on Tuesday, March 11, 2008, with a vote of 229-182, the House of Representatives passed a monumentally important resolution to create an independent, bipartisan panel of non-lawmakers to help review and investigate possible ethics violations by House members.  Common Cause commends Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her tireless work on this reform, and thanks its thousands of citizen activists for their phone calls and emails to Representatives.