The new Democratic leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, which convenes at noon on Thursday, proposed today to ban most kinds of lobbyist-financed trips by House members but to specifically exempt private universities that bring lawmakers to their campuses.

The language is part of a wider overhaul of House rules on lobbying and earmarks, following scandals involving both practices that helped the Democrats win control of Congress in November. House Democrats are expected to approve the package tomorrow as one of their first tasks.

Trips financed by private universities would be exempted because Democratic leaders view such trips as legitimate, said John Santore, a spokesman for the House Rules Committee. The leadership wanted to block situations where a corporation “gets unfettered access to a member by flying him on a private jet for three hours,” Mr. Santore said.

The package also would require disclosure of the sponsor of, and a written justification for, each earmark in all bills and conference reports, many of which are for colleges. Also today, the new House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said that earmarks “will be reduced, not completely eliminated,” under his party’s control, according to the online publication Congress Daily.

What’s more, President Bush asked Congress today to halve the number and total dollar amount of earmarks, saying they “often lead to wasteful federal spending.” Congressional earmarks for academe more than quadrupled, to more than $2-billion in 2003, under Republican control of Congress.