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In These Times examines the loopholes in the gift rules that allow lawmakers to travel, eat and drink at lobbyists' expense. The story points to examples of senators and representatives receiving "education trips" to vacation spots, cheap concert tickets and free lunches. A major finding is that these dinners and junkets are important not only to the lobbyists and the organizations that pay for them . Lawmakers are dependent on the freebies, because they need the relationships with the big business in order to collect donations. "Until Congress imposes stricter campaign spending limits or implements some for of public financing of campaigns, national policy will continue to be dominated by wealthy players," the magazine reports.

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