A vote on the amendment would have been potentially embarrassing for retiring senators who may be considering a lucrative career in lobbying once they leave the Senate at the end of this year.
A spokesman told The Hill on Thursday that the Paul permitted Democratic leadership to drop the amendment from the final voting package in exchange for roll call votes on three other amendments he authored.
Paul presented the amendment on the Senate floor on Tuesday by taking a veiled swing at presidential contender, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and arguing that lawmakers ought not enrich themselves for having served in Congress.
“I think the ability to serve in the Senate and the House of Representatives is a great honor but I am somewhat sickened and somewhat saddened by people… who leave office and become lobbyists, who leave office and call themselves historians, that basically leave office and pedal the friendships they have found here and the relationships to make money,” said Paul.
“I think its hard to prevent people from being lobbyists but I think if people choose to leave the Senate and the House of Representatives and become lobbyists they should give up something,” he said. “These people are making millions of dollars lobbying Congress, I think maybe they should give up their pension. Maybe they should give up their health benefits that are subsidized by the taxpayer.”
Paul’s amendment, however, drew the immediate criticism of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) who said the language was “extraordinarily broad” and would define lobbying remuneration as “salary, consulting fees, honaria and paid authorship.”
“I don’t know if this would even pass constitutional muster but there is certainly a fairness issue,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) upon hearing Collins speech remarked that he was glad to understand the true nature of the amendment and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) came to the floor to oppose the amendment saying it was designed to “harass members of Congress in their retirement.”
The Hill reported last month that K-Street headhunters are already salivating over the more than twenty-five lawmakers who intend to retire this year.
Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), minority whip and a member of the Finance Committee; and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), chairman of the Agriculture subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management. Senators generally draw between Former senators could expect to earn somewhere between $800,000 and $1.5 million annually.