By Kathleen Hunter, Congressional Quarterly, July 24, 2007

24 Jul 2007 // The House passed legislation Monday that would prohibit candidates from paying their spouses to work on their campaigns, despite scattered Republican objections that Democratic leaders bypassed the normal committee process.

Although the bill (HR 2630) passed easily by voice vote, it remains unclear whether the maneuver will in fact be counted as a victory for Democrats who are struggling to make good on their campaign vows to “clean up” Congress.

Some Republicans objected that the bill would do little to raise the ethical bar in Washington or to prevent recent ethics scandals from recurring, as the measure’s supporters claim.

“The big elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about in recent years has involved other issues,” said Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.

Gohmert described the bill as Democratic “demagoguery” that he said failed to address more serious issues, such as spouses working for companies that receive government contracts.

With the fate of broader ethics and lobbying overhaul bills (HR 2316, S 1) uncertain, Democrats were looking to the spousal pay measure as an opportunity to score a separate victory on ethics changes — or at least draw attention again before the August recess to the sins of past GOP majorities.

The legislation would “reassure Americans that their public officials are working in the public interest and not for their personal gain,” said Robert A. Brady, D-Pa., chairman of the House Administration Committee.

In addition to banning payments to spouses, the measure, sponsored by Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., would require that candidates file a separate disclosure to the Federal Elections Commission detailing all campaign payments made to immediate family members.

The version of the bill that passed the House on Monday was slightly stronger than the measure originally introduced. The House-passed measure specifies that campaigns cannot reimburse family members for penalties incurred because of violation of the legislation.

Republicans objected to the process by which the bill came to the floor. Ignoring regular order, Democrats did not hold any hearings or mark up the bill; Monday’s floor debate was the first chance any lawmaker had to comment on the measure. Since it was considered under suspension of the rules, no amendments were allowed and debate was limited.

Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said House leaders “hurt the bill by going around the process.”

“The end does not justify the means,” said McCarthy, a senior Republican on the House Administration Committee.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said it studied campaign reports covering three election cycles and found dozens of examples of lawmakers’ campaigns paying family members. Members of both political parties have paid their wives for campaign work.