Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Congress Losing Free Sports Tickets

According to news reports, the U.S. House passed a resolution earlier this month to ban gifts of free tickets to expensive sporting events, and the Senate is poised this week to do the same.

From USA Today:

"The Senate is moving this week to ban members from accepting free tickets to sporting events to cut ties between Congress and the special interests that provide the seats.

Lawmakers have long enjoyed seats in luxury skyboxes paid for by lobbyists and corporations, despite a $50 limit on the gifts they can accept. That's because the tickets often bore no prices or were valued at below the gift limit.

The House adopted a ban on expensive sports tickets earlier this month. Melanie Sloan of the liberal-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said it was 'crazy' that lawmakers 'could say a ticket worth thousands was worth $50.'"

Read the full story.

The House version, (House Resolution 6), dated January 5, 2007 is available online. See Section 304: Valuation of tickets to sporting and entertainment events.

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