On BigGovernment.com today, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced that "reform-minded congressional Republicans this week will put forth a new transparency initiative – a series of common-sense congressional reforms aimed at bringing some much-needed openness and accountability to the House."
Boehner argues that Democratic leaders have quickly pushed their debt-building, jobs-killing legislation through Congress without giving the public time to review them, and says:
"These are the actions of a Democratic majority that has forgotten it's the American people who are really in charge. These are actions designed to shut the American people out while politicians go about the business of limiting their freedom. And in an era of 10.2 percent unemployment, mounting debt, seemingly endless bailouts, and rapidly expanding government, these abuses are the last straw for the American people, who've clearly had enough."
Boehner also outlined the new transparency initiative, which includes proposals to:
>> READ THE BILL by requiring "all bills to be posted online for a minimum of 72 hours before they are brought to a vote";
>> SHOW THE VOTES by posting lawmakers' committee votes "online within 48 hours so the American people can see how their representatives voted";
>> BAN PHANTOM AMENDMENTS by requiring that committees "post the text of adopted bills online within 24 hours of adoption to end the practice of 'phantom amendments' being added to bills secretly after they pass at the committee level";
>> OPEN THE DEBATE by making "[m]ajor negotiations on sweeping bills that would dramatically expand the reach of the federal government … open to the public and subject to a full and honest debate when bills reach the floor";
>> INCREASE TRANSPARENCY by allowing cameras "in the secretive House Rules Committee, the panel that decides which bills and amendments come to a vote."
Read Boehner's full post on BigGovernment.com by clicking here. And click here to sign our petition: Read the Bill: Post Bills Online for 72 Hours Before a Vote.
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