Washington
(Sep 29, 2009)
WASHINGTON, DC – A short while ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican motion requiring that the Agriculture spending bill be publicly available via the Internet for at least 72 hours before coming to a vote. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement calling on Speaker Pelosi to hold an up-or-down vote on a bipartisan resolution that would make all bills subject to this mandatory public review period:
“A fiscal year of record red ink ends tomorrow against a backdrop of public outrage over the way this Democratic Congress has passed massive spending bills without giving the American people time to read them. We’ve lost more than 2.5 million jobs since the ‘stimulus’ bill passed, and yet after the fact we found out it was chock full of wasteful pork, including funding for Rep. Murtha’s ‘airport for no one’ and a bridge in Wisconsin that reportedly carries fewer than 300 cars a day – many to a place called ‘Rusty’s Backwater Tavern.’ Not long after, House Democrats passed a national energy tax bill loaded with special-interest giveaways no one had discovered because the bill was unveiled at 3 am the day of the vote.
"This practice cannot continue, especially with the Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care in the works. Now that it’s clear the House recognizes the need for reform, Speaker Pelosi should schedule an up-or-down vote on a bipartisan resolution that would make all bills subject to a mandatory public review period. This would help bring greater accountability and transparency to how Congress spends the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”
NOTE: Leader Boehner is a co-sponsor of H. Res. 554, a bipartisan resolution introduced by Reps. John Culberson (R-TX) and Brian Baird (D-WA) that would prohibit the House from considering any measure that has not been publicly available via the Internet for 72 hours. Last week, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) filed a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the Culberson-Baird resolution. To date, the petition has garnered 178 signatures – including five rank-and-file Democrats – 40 short of the 218 needed to secure a vote on the floor.