The House voted today to strengthen campaign finance disclosure requirements, passing controversial measures to require disclosure of lobbyist "bundler" donors to candidates and multi-candidate political action committees (PACs). Read more on the vote here.

Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) pens this editorial for the Chicago Tribune urging the House to join with the Senate in requiring disclosure of bundlers -- those who corral large contributions on behalf of a particular candidate -- to promote transparency and ensure accountability.

A stable of freshman Representatives who ousted incumbents tied to fundraising scandals have put their muscle behind proposals to overhaul the way candidates for Congress finance their campaigns, including public financing. This article in Roll Call (subscription req.) looks at who is lining up behind public financing.

Democrats are getting pretty well eviscerated for the watered down lobbying and disclosure bills they're pushing in Congress. Next in line with scalpels are The Politico and The Philadelphia Inquirer both wondering what it takes to break the gridlock and get a strong bill through.

A slightly weaker version of House Democrats' big lobbying bill passed out the Judiciary Committee after certain contentious provisions were eliminated. Though some of the ethics watchdogs in Congress are disappointed in what got axed, there's hope that at least now that the bill is moving forward there's potential to see it strengthened down the road.

Here's a riddle: why would the Senate pass a bill that, on the one hand, makes it harder for people to import prescription drugs (they argue it's a safety issue), and on the other hand softpedals requirements to do ongoing safety studies of on-the-market drugs, and make drug studies public? USA Today hazards a gue$$.

Well it seems the initial wind has gone out the sails of the lobbying reforms Democratic leaders in Congress pledged to pass after the mid-term elections. Different versions of the bills in the House and Senate to regulate lobbying activity and promote greater transparency have yet to be reconciled and at the center of the debate is that sneaky arrow in the quiver of big money: bundling.

The Politico follows up on the report released last week by Common Cause on the escalation in political spending by mortgage lenders coupled with the rise in questionable lending practices (sub-prime and adjustable rate mortgages) that have hit low income families particularly hard. So, what does the mortgage industry have to say for itself?

Craig Holman of Public Citizen takes the temperature of Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi's promise to preside over "the cleanest Congress in history" in his article at TomPaine.com, giving the House and Senate credit for their efforts to date on lobbying and ethics reform, but urging they go further still.

The Baltimore Sun joins in in calling out Sen. Mitch McConnell and his fellow obstructors for standing in the way of a bill to require Senators to file campaign finance disclosure forms electronically. Electronic disclosure would be a fast, inexpensive way to give voters better access to information about who was giving how much to their Senators (and whether they were getting anything in return).