John Hope Bryant: “Today the House will be given the opportunity to move forward on the most dramatic reform of this institution in the way…”

“Today the House will be given the opportunity to move forward on the most dramatic reform of this institution in the way it does business that will be considered this year. Unfortunately it has not been allowed to be considered prior to now in a serious way, and by that I am talking about an effort to reform the rules under which this House operates with regard to lobbying and lobbyists. Today on the legislative appropriations bill conference report that comes back a motion will be made to not approve; that is, to vote against the previous question. We hope that that motion to oppose the previous question will be successful; that is, that it will be defeated, the previous question will be defeated, and, as a result, we will then bring up a rule which will allow consideration of a proposal to prohibit the receipt of gifts by Members of the House of Representatives from lobbyists and also a provision to regulate the way in which lobbyists go about their business in this institution. About 5 weeks ago the United States Senate took up this matter and passed it.”