Senate moderates echo GOP call for 72-hour disclosure

[jefferson_dem]

Senate moderates echo GOP call for 72-hour disclosure

As the health care reform bill moves to the Senate floor, a key bloc of moderate Senate Democrats and an independent called on Senate Majority Leader Reid to increase the process' transparency.

Specifically, the senators called on Reid to post legislative text and CBO scores online 72 hours before the first floor vote. They asked that all amendments be posted before debate begins. And the amended bill and CBO score should be posted three days before a final Senate vote and before the Senate votes on a conference committee report.

Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Claire McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, Jim Webb and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman signed the letter.

"As their democratically-elected representatives in Washington, D.C., it is our duty to listen to their concerns and to provide them with the chance to respond to proposals that will impact their lives," the senators wrote. "At a time when trust in Congress and the U.S. government is unprecedentedly low, we can begin to rebuild the American people's faith in their federal government through transparency and by actively inviting Americans to participate in the legislative process."

Republicans fought for a similar three-day waiting period before the Senate Finance Committee voted on its proposal, but their amendment was shot down because it would have delayed a vote by a week or two.

But with the success of reform hanging on this group of moderate Dems, it will not be as easy for Reid to dismiss their concerns, even if it delays each part of the process by a week or more.

Read the whole letter after the jump.

<SNIP>

October 6, 2009

The Honorable Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
S-221 United States Capitol
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader Reid:

As you know, Americans across our country have been actively engaged in the debate on health care reform. Whether or not our constituents agree with the direction of the debate, many are frustrated and lacking accurate information on the emerging proposals in Congress. Without a doubt, reforming health care in America is one of the most monumental and far-reaching undertakings considered by this body in decades. We believe the American public's participation in this process is critical to our overall success of creating a bill that lowers health care costs and offers access to quality and affordable health care for all Americans.

Every step of the process needs to be transparent, and information regarding the bill needs to be readily available to our constituents before the Senate starts to vote on legislation that will affect the lives of every American. The legislative text and complete budget scores from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of the health care legislation considered on the Senate floor should be made available on a website the public can access for at least 72 hours prior to the first vote to proceed to the legislation. Likewise, the legislative text and complete CBO scores of the health care legislation as amended should be made available to the public for 72 hours prior to the vote on final passage of the bill in the Senate. Further, the legislative text of all amendments filed and offered for debate on the Senate floor should be posted on a public website prior to beginning debate on the amendment on the Senate floor. Lastly, upon a final agreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate, a formal conference report detailing the agreement and complete CBO scores of the agreement should be made available to the public for 72 hours prior to the vote on final passage of the conference report in the Senate.

By publically posting the legislation and its CBO scores 72 hours before it is brought to a vote in the Senate and by publishing the text of amendments before they are debated, our constituents will have the opportunity to evaluate these policies and communicate their concerns or their message of support to their Members of Congress. As their democratically-elected representatives in Washington, D.C., it is our duty to listen to their concerns and to provide them with the chance to respond to proposals that will impact their lives. At a time when trust in Congress and the U.S. government is unprecedentedly low, we can begin to rebuild the American people's faith in their federal government through transparency and by actively inviting Americans to participate in the legislative process.

We respectfully request that you agree to these principles before moving forward with floor debate of this legislation. We appreciate your serious consideration and look forward to working with you on health care reform legislation in the weeks ahead.

Sincerely,

Senator Blanche L. Lincoln

Senator Evan Bayh

Senator Mary L. Landrieu

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman

Senator Claire McCaskill

Senator Ben Nelson

Senator Mark L. Pryor

Senator Jim Webb

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1009/Senate_moderates_echo_GOP_call_for_72hour_disclosure_.html?showall

[truebrit71]

1. DINO'S one and all...what a fuckin surprise...

:eyes:

[harkadog]

3. And what exactly is wrong with having 72 hours to look at a bill???

Why would anyone oppose this unless they wanted to hide something?

[Mass]

6. delete.

[DatManFromNawlins]

5. Why do the plebians need to look at legislation?

It isn't like Congress is going to take their wishes into consideration anyway.

[Mass]

7. Because they want the lobbyists to be able to read the bill. They do not care about the people.

[TheKentuckian]

2. I could argue that McCaskill, Webb, and pryor MIGHT be moderates

the rest are cons and all of them are slow walking this into the dust.

[ej510]

4. This is to buy time for the lobbyist to fuck up the bill.

[tomm2thumbs]

8. well I'm sure this has always been the rule because Republicans are so trustworthy thru the years

extreme sarc