SECRETS OF ARM TWISTING, REVEALED

Congressional leaders agreed on a package of reforms that will curb the power of special interest lobbyists -- or at least expose them for what they are. The legislation, expected to get House and Senate approval in the next few days, would require all professional influence-peddlers to register and disclose whom they're shilling for, how much they're paid and the issues on which they're lobbying. (Those not registered would be limited to treating their Congressional rep to a meal costing $20 or less.) How will it change politics? Hard to tell, besides embarrassing some corporations and special interests, and their hired guns. In the short run, says TIME Washington correspondent Laurence I. Barrett, it may cut the ranks of registered lobbyists.