WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., created an ethics bill oriented toward increasing the public's faith in the U.S. Congress.
The introduced disclosure and ethics bill from the two senators will work as an improvement on the current S. 2349 regulation and if passed will represent Congress' efforts to place public interests ahead of those from special interest groups, a news release from Feingold's office stated.
"The American people deserve more than window-dressing when it comes to ethics reform, they deserve meaningful reform that will finally end the undue influence that lobbyists and special interests have had over the laws we make," Obama said. "To do this, we must not only strengthen but enforce the rules governing our interactions with lobbyists, and finally make the legislative process fully transparent to the public."
With the influx of Democrats into Congress making ethics and lobby reform a top priority, the bill could strengthen public opinion by ban gifts from lobbyists, establishing an Office of Public Integrity and increase open government practices in the Senate.
