4 months ago
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Should Members of Congress and members of the public have 72 hours to read legislation online before debate begins on the House floor?
A growing number of House members thinks the answer is yes.
"Well, it's common sense. If we are going to know what we are voting on, and not only should we know what we're voting on but you folks in the media and our constituents should (know). Unfortunately, over the last decade or so and it was both a Republican problem and a Democratic problem. The more important the bill, the more money it spends, and the more people whose lives it effects, the less time we have to study it, the inverse of what it ought to be. Under normal procedures you would have at least 72 hours to read a bill plus the public could read it, post it on the internet and the only way to waive that would be with a two-thirds vote," said Rep. Brian Baird (D-Washington).
Baird is gathering petition signatures to bring that bill to a vote.
"I think we're going to prevail. I think the public gets it. For example, under the Republicans we passed the Medicare prescription drug bill: 45 million lives affected, $750 billion added to the the debt, and less than 30 hours to read the bill. Democrats have done the same thing with the stimulus package and the energy bill. It's wrong whoever does it. The public gets it. If they contact their representatives and we get enough signatures I think we could be voting on this within a week," he told 9News Now.
"We absolutely think all legislation should be online prior to debate because we think the public has the right to know what's in legislation. There have been too many problems, too many mistakes, too much wasteful spending slipped into bills at the last minute and we think that if a lot of the legislation that has been rushed through congress previously had been online, somebody would have found out if there was a bad provision or a wasteful provision," said Lisa Rosenberg of the Sunlight Foundation.
Congressional leadership has opposed the plan that would limit its authority to decide when legislation is debated and voted upon.
"I think there is a big problem with whichever party is a majority and this has happened when the Republicans were in the majority, and it's happening now with Democrats in the majority. Whichever party is the majority tends to like the status quo. They like to control the timing. They like to control the message. 72 hours of waiting before debate begins causes the majority to lose a little of the control...The minority is always much more interested and much more supportive than the majority party," Rosenberg told 9 News Now.
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