Praise for Rep. Loebsack

The Gazette Editorial Board

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack deserves praise for his effort to stop the House Ethics Committee from taking a detour from travel transparency.

Loebsack and a bipartisan group of lawmakers put the pressure on after media reports uncovered efforts to free members of Congress from having to list privately funded trips in their financial disclosure forms. The rule has been in place since 1978.

The number of free trips taken by lawmakers and staff, usually paid for by interest groups, is increasing (the website Legistorm tallied 1,900 such trips costing $6 million last year).

Some trips are legitimate fact-finding. Some, probably less so. Either way, constituents have a right to know who is hauling their elected representatives around the nation and the globe and how much those trips cost.

For his part, Loebsack hasn't taken any privately funded trips since taking office. The ethics panel dropped the idea of relaxing disclosure requirements after he and his colleagues cried foul. Good for them.

The move may not make a big difference in constituents' approval or trust in Congress, but it should keep the House from digging any deeper toward what Loebsack describes as 'rock bottom.”

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