Congressman David Dreier Radio Address
May 25, 2007

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Transcript:

This is David Dreier of California. This weekend, we commemorate Memorial Day and we honor those who have given their lives in service to our country. As we mark this day this year, our troops currently in harm's way can be assured that the funding they need to fight and win the war against global terrorism is finally on its way. This week, Republicans in Congress successfully held the line against the Democrats' disastrous policy for retreat in Iraq. The challenges there remain, but our troops and the Iraqis want us to stay and fight. We owe them the funding and support they need to achieve their mission.

A constituent of mine, Ed Blecksmith, lost his son, J.P., in the battle of Fallujah in November of 2004. Mr. Blecksmith, like his son, a proud Marine, has said to me more than once that if we retreat from Iraq, his son will have died in vain. We cannot let that happen. This weekend, we honor J.P. Blecksmith and every other American that has died for our freedoms.

Also this week in Congress, the Democratic leadership brought to the floor a long promised lobbying reform bill. It was a year ago this month that we were on the floor with our own lobbying bill. Back then, the Democrats derided our bill as a "sham."

But if the bill this House passed in the last Congress was a "sham," the bill considered this week was that much worse. Rather than building on our product, which enjoyed bipartisan support, the Democratic majority abandoned simple provisions which could improve the transparency of the lobbying system.

For instance, while starting out with a 2-year restriction on lobbying after leaving Congress, the majority left that provision on the cutting room floor. Instead of retaining a provision which passed the House last year and would provide everyone with a degree of transparency about who was and was not under the lobbying restriction, I had to add an amendment to put it back in.

While the bill provides important new criminal penalties for lobbying violations, it includes nothing to make enforcement more rigorous. I offered an amendment at the Rules Committee to add a provision which passed in the bill last year to allow the House Inspector General to randomly audit lobbying disclosure filings and forward cases of wrongdoing to the Department of Justice for prosecution. The majority's answer to that proposal? "No, we don't want enforcement for our bill."

The lackluster lobbying reform offered by the Democrats is yet another link in their chain of broken promises. The American people deserve better than the partisanship and acrimony they're getting from this Democratic Congress.

As we head into this Memorial Day weekend, I wish all of you well, and have a nice holiday.