Calling A Process Bipartisan, Open, and Transparent Does Not Make It So
Speaker Nancy Pelosi - “[W]e promised the American people that we would have the most honest and open government and we will.” (Press stakeout, December 6, 2006).
January 28, 2009
As the Democratic Majority prepares to pass their bloated trillion dollar “stimulus” bill later today, they are trying to convince the American public that they subscribe to President Obama’s vision of a bipartisan, open, and transparent legislative process. In an effort to do so, Speaker Pelosi’s office issued a
“Fact Sheet” outlining the process for H.R. 1, attempting to claim it represents a departure from past practice. While this process does make some amendments in order – a departure from the last Congress, which holds the distinction of being the most closed Congress in history – their analysis falls short in a couple of key areas. Let’s break down their bragging points.
The Pelosi Fact Sheet states that more than 100 amendments were offered in committee markups of the stimulus package and 13 GOP amendments were adopted. Unfortunately for Speaker Pelosi’s fact checking team, this isn’t the complete picture. Of the 6 GOP amendments adopted in the Energy and Commerce Committee, 3 (all of which were adopted by voice vote) were dropped from the bill when it was filed, with no explanation and no consultation with the Republican sponsors of the amendments. The amendments were offered again in the Rules Committee last night, but were rejected by the Majority.
The Pelosi Fact Sheet also states that Republicans will be able to offer a substitute amendment, something that has “rarely been done in the past, particularly with tax measures.” They might have a point, IF this bill were really a tax measure. It is not. It is an appropriations bill, made up primarily of the spending wish lists of the Democratic Majority. The fact is that the bill was only to the Committees on Appropriations and Budget, and not the Ways and Means Committee. If this bill were being handled in a truly open way, the appropriations portions of this bill would be considered under an open rule. That’s how the House used to handle appropriations bills - before the 110th Congress, that is.
The Pelosi Fact Sheet jumped the gun on the amendment argument, neglecting to point out that 206 amendments were submitted to the Rules Committee for consideration. 104 were offered by Democrats, 95 by Republicans, and 7 were bipartisan. How many did the Rules Committee allow to move to the floor today? 11, or five percent of amendments submitted. That’s not exactly a record to be proud of.
Speaker Pelosi’s fact checking team also omitted some key facts about their own record. During the Democrat’s first Congress in control, they shut out more amendments, used more closed rules, and denied more substitutes than any Congress in history. They can claim to be operating in a bipartisan, open, and transparent way, but the facts tell us otherwise.
Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA) said the Democrat’s handling of this critical legislation does not bode well for the rest of the Congress. “President Obama has asked for our ideas and solicited our input. He recognized that we may not agree on everything, but we need to argue the merits, not just politics. It’s incumbent on the Speaker and the Democratic Leadership to give us a process that allows all members to really participate, rather than serve as window dressing for their poor record.”
Committee on Rules Republicans
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