Lynn Schenk: “it is time for this House to finally take the first steps towards reforming the way that we do business in this body.…”

“it is time for this House to finally take the first steps towards reforming the way that we do business in this body. This legislation, which is strongly supported by the freshman Democratic class in this House, represents a first step. Yes, many of us would like to go further, perhaps even an outright ban on any gifts or perks. But this is where we stand today. I would just like to say to my good friend, my colleague for whom I have enormous respect, the gentleman from Redlands, CA, that I served in Sacramento under what we call the two hamburgers and a coke rule. And it did work. It worked for the people of California. What it did was it banned lobbyists from having big private dinners in smoky back rooms of restaurants where they had unfair access to legislators and executive branch officials. It leveled the playing field. No, it did not eliminate the crooks. No, it did not eliminate those who want to do something under the table. No law will ever eliminate those kinds of people. What it does, it levels the playing field. The American people have demanded this reform in the last election, in town meetings, every one of us who went through the campaign. I think that it just defies our God-given common sense to say it does not go far enough so let us not vote for it at all. If we defeat this bill, we break faith with the American people. I ask my colleagues to support it.”