Democratic senator wants to expose 'stealth lobbyists'

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has introduced the Lobbying and Campaign Finance Reform Act, a bill that would, among other things, change the way registered lobbyists can support political campaigns and also tweak the requirements for who must register as a lobbyist.

This latter change would be accomplished by nixing the 20 percent rule, which says that only people who spend more than 20 percent of their time on lobbying activities must register as lobbyists. This has allowed many lobbyists to avoid registration, which can obscure lobbying activity from the public.

The bill would also ban registered lobbyists from bundling campaign contributions and keep members of Congress from asking lobbyists for financial support while Congress is in session. Bennet previously introduced the same bill in 2014, but it never got out of committee.

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