(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Frederic J. Frommer on March 2.)
WASHINGTON — Facing little support at a committee meeting Thursday, Sen. Mark Dayton withdrew an amendment that would ban lawmakers from getting involved with matters directly affecting former clients.
It was the second time this week that Dayton has been rebuffed in his attempt to move the amendment. Dayton offered it Thursday in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, two days after the Senate Rules Committee said the amendment was out of order.
Dayton was motivated to offer the amendment by Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who has helped his former employer, the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, with a proposed expansion. Thune inserted language into a transportation bill last summer that expanded the amount of federal money available for small railroads to borrow, helping DM&E apply for a $2.5 billion government loan.
One of the communities the rail line would run through is Rochester, Minn., home to the Mayo Clinic, which opposes the project.
Dayton said after the meeting that he would bring the amendment back for a vote on the Senate floor next week.
Opposition came from senators from both parties on Thursday. The chairman of the committee, Maine Republican Susan Collins, said the amendment was too broad. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he was concerned that the amendment would prevent a member of Congress who worked for an auto manufacturer from working on legislation to rescue that company.
“I understand his concern,” Dayton told reporters after the meeting. “I think it’s unfortunate that one very unusual and unlikely situation can be used as a reason for others to oppose the overall amendment.”
Dayton said he decided to withdraw the amendment after he realized he would get at most five votes on the 16-member committee. He said he’d work with Levin on the legislation to address his concerns.
But Dayton added: “I don’t know what the resolution is. There may not be one.”
Thune spokesman Kyle Downey said in a statement: “After failing to attract any support before two Senate committees, Mr. Dayton’s amendment appears to be running out of track.”
Dayton said he suspected all of the Republicans would have opposed his amendment, seeing it as a rebuke to one of their GOP colleagues.
“Even though his name was not mentioned in the course of my presentation, or the discussion,” Dayton said. “And this has broad applicability. But it’s definitely a response to the situation with DM&E railroad.” Dayton has called Thune’s work on the issue a violation of the public interest.
Still, Dayton changed the language earlier this week so that even if the amendment had been in place last year, it would have not prevented Thune’s work on behalf of the loan project. That’s because the new language bans such work only if it “directly and particularly” benefits the former employer.
Dayton spokeswoman Chani Wiggins said the change was made because the senator concluded the original language was too broad, and wanted the legislation to be workable.
Minnesota’s other senator, Republican Norm Coleman, who also serves on the committee, said he opposed the amendment.
Also Thursday, the committee approved Coleman’s amendment to create a “Commission to Strengthen Confidence in Congress,” charged with recommending comprehensive lobbying reforms and long-term oversight of the legislative process.