No Lawmakers Punished Under Three-Year-Old Ethics Rules

No lawmakers have been punished under sweeping ethics rules passed by Congress three years ago, USA Today reported.

The rules were approved in early 2007, shortly after former lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to giving gifts to elected officials in exchange for political favors. Lawmakers were barred from receiving meals or gifts from lobbyists and their clients.

At the time, incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised to "drain the swamp."

The most serious rebuke since the rules went into effect was a letter of "qualified admonition" to Democratic Illinois Sen. Roland Burris, according to the newspaper. An ethics panel found Burris misled Congress and inappropriately offered to raise campaign funds while seeking to be appointed to the seat formerly held by Barack Obama.

"Three years later, it's the same old, same old," Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told USA Today.

A Pelosi spokesman defended the rules, pointing out that the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, formed in 2008, is currently examining dozens of cases for possible review by the House ethics committee.