From the New York Times: 
 
 Senate Passes Pared-Down Lobbying Bill 
 
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG 
 
Published: March 29, 2006 
 
WASHINGTON, March 29 — The Senate today overwhelmingly passed its first lobbying restrictions in 11 years, but the measure was so pared down that some of the biggest advocates for tightening the rules were still not satisfied. 
 
The bill, approved by a vote of 90 to 8, came coincidentally on the same day that the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to prison in Miami in a case unrelated to lobbying. 
 
The measure would bar lobbyists from giving gifts and meals to lawmakers and would restrict but not abolish earmarks, the special interest projects that lawmakers sometimes quietly insert into spending bills at the behest of lobbyists and other constituencies. 
 
But the lopsided vote does not necessarily signal that the bill will soon become reality, since the House must also act, and there are differences between the chambers. 
 
The Senate measure toughens disclosure requirements for lobbyists and requires lawmakers to obtain advance approval for the private trips that were a central feature of the Abramoff scandal. But it does not rein in lawmakers' use of corporate jets, and it fell far short of the sweeping changes, including a ban on privately financed travel, that some lawmakers advocated in January after a former Republican congressman admitted to taking bribes and Mr. Abramoff cut a deal with federal prosecutors. 
 
"It's very, very weak," said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Mr. McCain predicted that there would be more indictments growing out of the investigation into political corruption, and said that such a development would lead Congress to revisit the issue again. 
 
Mr. McCain was one of the eight who voted against the bill. The others were Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, all Republicans, and Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barack Obama of Illinois, Democrats. 
 
Mr. Coburn, Mr Obama and Mr. Feingold had joined Mr. McCain in condemning the bill as too weak.Earlier, the Senate voted, 68 to 30, against an amendment offered by Senator Feingold, that would have extended the ban on gifts and meals to include people working at companies hiring lobbyists. 
 
The bill also does little to break the link between lobbyists and lawmakers' money-raising machines, because senators decided those issues related to campaign finance, not lobbying. As a result, it steers clear entirely of regulating lobbyists who double as fund-raisers, devoting their spare time to running the political action committees of the same lawmakers they hope to influence. 
 
Senator Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who was a major architect of the bill, lamented that it does not address "true meaningful campaign finance reform that breaks the link between the legislative favor-seekers and the free flow of special interest private money." He added, "That would be a much more significant." 
 
The House is expected to take up lobbying restrictions next week. With public approval ratings of Congress at historic lows, Republican leaders in both chambers have been eager to pass some kind of bill well before the November elections, to demonstrate to voters that they are serious about cleaning up business in the Capitol. 
 
But some in tough re-election fights wondered aloud if the measure would help. 
 
"I don't know," said Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, who is facing a tough re-election battle against a Democratic congressman, Representative Sherrod Brown. "People are not really talking to me directly about lobbying. I think they're concerned about some of the, quote, scandal, but I don't have anybody come up to me and say there's a lobbying problem. It doesn't get that specific." 
 
David Stout contributed reporting for this article.