John Fortier, director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Project, said a lifetime ban is essentially asking lawmakers to vote for limiting their own job prospects.

“Absolutely limiting somebody from going into things related to their expertise when they were in Congress ultimately makes it harder to get it through Congress,” he said.

Mr. Fortier and Mr. Auble both said for that reason a lifetime ban also raised questions about whether it was constitutional.

“Are you limiting citizens’ right to petition? Are you limiting people from having a profession that’s related to their expertise, which the court would signifcatly narrow,” Mr. Fortier said.

Mr. Fortier said pushing a lifetime ban is more about sending a message than trying to make actual reform.