House GOP Softens Its Ethics Rules (washingtonpost.com)

House Republicans weakened their own ethics rules yesterday, pushing through language that would allow lobbyists to cater meals to members' offices and let charities pay for lawmakers to travel and stay at golf resorts and other locales.

House leaders tucked the changes into a broader rules package that Congress approves at the outset of each term. The move sparked a protest from Democrats, the House ethics committee chairman and officials from public watchdog groups, all of whom argued that the changes would undermine efforts to eliminate influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.

"It's just an erosion of the gift rule that is not justifiable," said Don Simon, acting president of the public interest group Common Cause. "It's a major retreat. It was done in a stealth fashion without any public scrutiny."

Lawmakers approved the rules change on a party-line vote of 221 to 203, after rejecting a Democratic attempt to scuttle it.

"Republicans believe they have such a safe and secure majority they want to undo some of the significant strides," said Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.).

This is not a big change but is illustrated of the Republican cozy relationship with lobbyists.