Citizens across America will have a powerful tool to hold their elected leaders accountable come January. The House of Representatives today adopted new standards that increase transparency and improve access to legislative data. All of the information will be publicly available in a searchable format on one website. “With the adoption of these standards, for the first time, all House bills, resolutions and legislative documents will be available in XML in one centralized location,” said House Administration Chairman Dan Lungren (R-CA). “Providing easy access to legislative information increases constituent feedback and ultimately …
The newly formed Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has its 12 members, but beyond that there’s little known about how exactly it will operate. Congressional leaders have promised transparency of its deliberations. And as of now, though, only the first meeting and final report are required to be publicly accessible. Two weeks ago a handful of Republican senators proposed legislation to make the so-called super committee’s work more transparent. The Sunlight Foundation offered a list of five recommendations. And today at Heritage, former Speaker Newt Gingrich outlined why putting …
A half-dozen Republicans are lobbying Senate leaders to make the newly created Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction transparent in its operations and accessible to the American public. Their proposal includes public attendance at meetings and live television broadcasts. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the six Republicans ask the leaders to “allow this process to unfold before the American people through an open debate.” The effort was spearheaded by Sen. Dean Heller (NV) with the backing of Sens. Kelly Ayotte …
Upon taking control of the U.S. House in January, Republicans implemented sweeping reforms to make the People’s House more transparent and accessible. Now they’ll have a chance to bolster their good-government credentials with the newly created Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Twelve lawmakers from the House and Senate will serve on the joint committee, according to language in the Budget Control Act. Its goal is to make recommendations to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion. The Sunlight Foundation, an organization that advocates for greater government openness and transparency, earlier …
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) repeatedly criticized Democrats last year for voting on legislation that members didn’t have time to read. “Read the Bill” language was even included in the GOP’s Pledge to America to ensure lawmakers would have adequate notice to review legislation. “Neither members of Congress or the public were given time to read the trillion-dollar stimulus before it passed. Nobody read the cap-and-trade bill. Nobody read the budget. And yet Democrats approved them anyway,” Boehner said in a video last year. “Every major bill should be posted online and …
Continuing their fabulous work fighting for transparency in government, The Sunlight Foundation‘s Nancy Watzman has a series of posts up this week asking that Congress afford the American public a mere 72 hours to read legislation before they take it up for consideration. Her first post recounts how terribly President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill violated transparency in government principles: When the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal on February 11, he said, “Like any negotiation, this involved give-and-take-and if you don’t mind my saying so, that’s an …
