Steve Hildebrand, former adviser to President Obama, talks with CNN about the need to reform Washington, D.C. and clean up Congress.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the House of Representatives voted to force the ethics committee to report on what, if any, actions have been taken in a federal probe of PMA Group, a now-defunct defense lobbying firm and a senior House Democrat.

President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress have an ambitious agenda come January. And those industries that donated the $5 billion to 2008 candidates will want to make sure their voices are heard. On Tuesday, Obama's transition team laid out an ethics plan that should assure some voters on the power of lobbyists in his administration.

In a move both symbolically significant and indicative of a grudging willingness to change, the House of Representatives has voted to create an independent ethics office composed of six nonpartisan officials tasked with fielding ethics allegations and reporting out to the public on what allegations have merit.

The Senate has some 'splaining to do for lagging behind their counterparts in the House on two important ethics bills. The New York Times chides them for dragging their heels. While the House has voted in favor of banning the use of campaign contributions to pay spouses of House candidates, and files campaign finance disclosure reports electronically the Senate has approved neither of these simple, sensible reforms.

Here's what happens on Capitol Hill when you change the rules but not the game: a bunch of lobbyists and their legal advisors get together to hammer out a policy on tuna sandwiches. As new lobbying regulations go in to effect cutting into the lavish dinners and other events lobbyists had previously held to woo members of Congress, they're putting their heads together to find all the loopholes.