The 109th Congress promised ethics reform in response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and has responded by steadily eroding the core values of the promises - travel bans and stronger ethics enforcement. Now, the House and Senate have the audacity to scale back the weak lobbyist disclosure measures that were passed in place of substantive reform. The House lobbyist disclosure bill passed May 3 and the House has yet to name negotiators to work on a compromise with the Senate. Therefore, Congress may adjourn this year without tightening restrictions on the dealings of lobbyists' with lawmakers. So much for lobbying reform in 2006.

The two chambers disagree on a number of provisions. For example, House Republicans contend that 527s, independent interest groups that run political ads, should be curbed. Senate Democrats, and a handful of Senate Republicans, have opposed these changes while failing to offer a tangible reform plan as an alternative.

If lobbyists are happy then Congress has failed. The bicameral impasse can be blamed on the House and Senate's lack of sincerity when promising reform measures. It is appalling that the most likely way to return reform to the negotiating table is another scandal. Lawmakers' proclivity is to respond to public demand. Maybe the public is not shouting loudly enough.