Today, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) introduced legislation to force seven calendar days of transparency before any debt limit deal is passed by the Senate. The measure is in the form of a point of order and reads as follows: It shall not be in order in the Senate to proceed to any measure that would increase the statutory limit on the public debt above $14.294 trillion unless that measure has been available on a public website for a full 7 calendar days before consideration on the floor of the Senate. …
A freshman congressman has offered legislation that would make the extensive federal rulemaking process associated with the new Obamacare law dramatically more transparent. The bill would also give Congress a stepped-up oversight role as federal agencies begin drafting rules to implement the law, which will go fully into effect by 2014. In fact, both the purpose and letter of the Creating Sunshine, Participation, and Accountability for Our Nation Act (H.R. 1432) align well with President Obama’s stated concern for transparency in federal rulemaking. The bill, introduced by Rep. David Schweikert …
Yesterday, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) took to the Senate floor to fight against secrecy in budget talks and out of control spending. Transparency may be dead in debt limit talks, but if heroes like Senator Johnson pledge to use the two most important words in the Senate dictionary–“I Object”–to shut down the Senate, they can force transparency for the American people. Senator Johnson threatened to object to all unanimous consent agreements until debt limit negotiations and the budget are done out in the open. He also cited the fact that …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Transparency Win? Secret $2.4 Trillion Debt-Hike Talks May End The Justice Department Misleads the Ninth Circuit Operation Fast and Furious: How the Obama Administration Conned the Washington Post Obama’s Medicare plan is an open secret Gay marriage looms larger in 2012 White House race after NY law Why Gay ‘Marriage Equality’ Is Bad for America and Hurts Children Constitutionalism: Here Are a Few Things Richard Stengel Doesn’t Know About U.S. …
How’s this for transparency in the White House? Last week, the House joint Oversight and Small Business Committee held a hearing on a proposed Obama Executive Order mandating the disclosure of political donations by government contractors. The Committee questioned White House aide Daniel Gordon on the Order. His response? He danced, dodged, bobbed and weaved around the Committee’s questions, as captured in this video, above: Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC): Does it strike you at all as being ironic to invoke confidentiality and not answering questions when we’re having a hearing about …
One issue that has come to the forefront in the debate over a continuing resolution to fund the government for the remainder of the year is transparency. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and President Barack Obama negotiated a deal on Friday averting a government slowdown behind closed doors and in secret — without any significant consent of the governed. We now have details of the final legislation, yet the American people were completely cut out of this legislative drafting process. Republicans and …
President Barack Obama and his team have been resting on the strength of their social media efforts in the 2008 election for some time now. While they have been doing so, the world of digital media has passed them by, creating venues for political mobilization, policy debate and checks and balances unseen in any previous administration. In short, the right has overtaken the digital space in response to a largely secretive and out-of-control White House. But Robert Gibbs has a new spin on the White House’s social media efforts. In …
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is slated to vote Tuesday on an Internet regulation scheme hatched by Chairman Julius Genachowski. It’s bad enough that the commission is attempting yet again to supersede its statutory authority—despite a court ruling halting a previous attempt to regulate the Web. The fact that the public has been barred from reviewing the proposal argues for swift and severe congressional intervention. Opponents, of which there are many, predict that Genachowski’s ploy would dissuade investment in broadband and much-needed network expansion. Fellow FCC commissioner Robert M. McDowell, …
Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics James Sherk writes: “The Obama Administration recently rolled back union financial transparency reforms. New regulations will exempt many union trust funds, such as strike funds and apprenticeship programs, from financial disclosure laws. These regulations also end financial reporting for many government unions.” According to recent polling, 66 percent of union members believe their leaders mostly look out for themselves and a full 89 percent of them believe unions should disclose their spending. Sherk notes that Members of UFCW Local 7 in Colorado …
A developing problem with this secret compromise among leaders in the House, Senate and White House with regard to extending tax cuts for all is the fact that nobody has seen the agreement. Where is it? Why can’t the American people see it? We have read news reports about what is in the agreement, yet we don’t have a copy of it. I just called sources in the Senate, and they tell me that rank-and-file Members of the Senate have not seen a copy of the compromise. Senator Jon Kyl …
