While the conference committee to reconcile House and Senate versions of lobby reform legislation remains in limbo, two House members have introduced a new, stronger lobby reform bill, and a Senate committee has called for an investigation into misuse of charities by Abramoff and others. New Shays-Meehan Bill On June 22, Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) introduced H.R. 5677, the Ethics and Lobbying Reform Act. The bill, an amalgamation of provisions supported by reformers that were left out of the House and Senate-passed bills, includes:

A coalition of more than 100 nonprofits is protesting a new filter used by some congressional offices to block spam, arguing it also inhibits constituent communications. The filter, or "logic puzzle" as it is called, requires senders to answer a question before a message is sent, making it more difficult for online advocacy campaigns that use forms.

Yet another Bush administration secret program that gathers private information came to light last week. The New York Times on Jun. 23, much to the ire of the White House, broke the story of government monitoring of banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and financial institutions.

While House leadership announced that sunset commissions would come up for a vote later than initially predicted, the Senate unexpectedly set the stage for its own consideration of a sunset commission proposal. OMB Watch reported conflicting accounts two weeks ago about the timing for unveiling, and bringing to a vote, a final House package on sunset commissions. At the time, House GOP leadership suggested that a vote could happen imminently, while Hill sources speculated that leadership was being overly optimistic.