House Speaker Newt Gingrich pitched his plan Sunday for a commission on political reform but said its findings would come too late to affect the 1996 election.
"Nothing is going to be done before the next election and everybody knows that," the Georgia Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Nothing will apply to the 1996 election."Gingrich brushed aside criticisms, from both parties, that the GOP leadership has cooled on campaign and lobbying reform since Republicans gained control of Congress and began seeing big gains in contributions.
"The issue is much bigger than they think it is," Gingrich said.
At the urging of Republican freshmen, the House will take up a bill Thursday on restricting free meals, trips and other gifts members can accept from lobbyists.
Gingrich showed little enthusiasm for limitations, saying that if Congress is going to go that route, an outright ban on gifts would be better. "I would have an automatic thing that says, `don't bring T-shirts, don't bring caps."'
On campaign reform, he promoted his idea, first proposed a week ago, of appointing a bipartisan commission, with eight members from each side, to "look at the totality of politics."
The Republican Party received more than $20 million in so-called soft money during the first six months of the year - twice the amount collected by Democrats. Soft money is unregulated contributions to parties coming from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.
But Gingrich stressed that there is a bigger picture involved in political reform. He noted that Ross Perot spent $67 million of his own money during his independent quest for the presidency in 1992 and mentioned three Democratic senators - Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and John D. Rockefeller of West Virginia - whose personal wealth helped in their campaigns.
"Should Frank Lautenberg be able to write a check to buy a Senate seat?" he asked.
Political reform should also look at the question of money from foreign sources, he said, noting that there will be a large inflow of funds from Hong Kong when the British colony comes under Chinese control in two years.
Gingrich said it was "very sobering" that labor unions had spent $22 million on ads this fall attacking the Republican agenda.