Martin T. Meehan

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman and I thank the dean of our delegation and all of my colleagues from Massachusetts and all of my colleagues in this House.

I have a plane to catch, so I will be brief.

I want to thank my wife, Ellen, and my wonderful family for all that they have had to tolerate over the years. I want to thank the people of the Fifth Congressional District of Massachusetts for the confidence that they have demonstrated in me in giving me this great honor to serve in this great institution.

I want to thank former staff members of mine, some of whom are here, for their dedication, their energy, their hard work day in and day out.

I want to thank my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, that I have worked with. I have tried to work in a bipartisan way most of the time. I leave this House; it was the most difficult decision professionally that I have ever had to make because I love this House, I love the institution, I love the friendships and colleagues that I have been so honored to work with over the years.

But I also believe in the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. That is where I graduated. I walked in the door, one of seven children in a large family in Lowell, Massachusetts, and wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to college or to achieve things I wanted to achieve in my life without that institution. So as difficult as it is, I have a passion for the institution. I am going to leave.

So thank you very much for wonderful friendships. I will be back from time to time. Be careful you don't eliminate too many earmarks while you are at it here.

Announcement by the Chairman

Mr. Chairman, I rise to congratulate our colleague, Mr. Neil Abercrombie, today on his 69th birthday.

Announcement by the Acting Chairman

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill.

I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation, and I am glad to see that this House is following in the footsteps of the Senate in crafting some of the most important lobbying reforms in a generation.

Madam Speaker, there is an often cited quote from Supreme Court Justice Louie Brandeis. He said: ``Sunlight is the best disinfectant.''

In the spirit of that principle, the law already requires that lobbyists disclose their direct contributions to Members of Congress.

But that is hardly the full picture of the relationship between lobbyists, Members and campaign contributions.

In a practice known as bundling, lobbyists call up their clients and fellow colleagues and pool checks to hand over to Members.

Sometimes this will happen at fundraisers, where a lobbyist comes in with an envelope full of bundled checks.

Sometimes lobbyists will pledge to raise a certain amount for a campaign, and their progress is tracked through a coding system--for example, getting donors to write a name or number on the memo line of a check.

In either scenario, lobbyists are likely bundling contributions that far exceed their individual contribution.

I believe that it is more important to know how much a lobbyist is bundling for a Member of Congress than how much he is contributing directly.

Lobbyists, like every other citizen, are limited in their individual giving, but are unlimited in how much they can collect and forward to a campaign.

Without passing this bill, and requiring lobbyists to report their bundled contributions, this Congress and the American public will remain in the dark.

The Van Hollen bill shines sunlight on the practice of bundling.

In their lobbying bill, the Senate addressed bundling, setting a high bar for the House.

This proposal meets that high bar.