Senate Dems Try To Ban Travel Paid For By Lobbyists, Every Republican Votes "NO"...

Think there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to allegiance to lobbyists?

Think again.

The Senate, by voice vote Wednesday, accepted an amendment to a lobbying and ethics bill that bans all gifts from lobbyists, including meals. The base bill prohibits gifts and say that meals would be permissible only if they are made public.

The vote on meals came shortly after the Senate rejected, on a party line 55-44 vote, a broader Democratic alternative that would also have banned meals as well as almost all privately funded travel.

Check out the Senate roll call. Needless to say, it doesn't look good for the Republicans to be defending lobbyist-funded travel.

It looks even worse now that Jack Abramoff is dropping the dime on them in this month's Vanity Fair. Says Abramoff of Republican Sen. Conrad Burns:

Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns's committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it's a little difficult for him to run from that record.

And it's only gonna get better...
- posted by Brian @ 3:29 PM