Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert said today they expect conferees to produce a final lobby reform package before Congress leave town for the Fourth of July. Majority Leader Frist and Speaker Hastert added, “Lobbying and ethics reform remains an important priority for Congress. We are confident that the conferees will work hard and deliver a conference report that will build trust with the American people by making our government more transparent and accountable.” Hastert has said that he will name conferees before the July recess. It is speculated that he did not want to name conferees until staff behind the scenes had come to agreement (pre-conferencing) on specific provisions of the bill.