Monday, March 25, 2013

GOP 'leaders' again break pledge to post bills 72 hrs. before vote, ie 574 pg. Senate CR

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3/21/13, "GOP Leaders Again Break Pledge to Post Bills 72 Hrs Before Vote: Pass 574-Page Senate CR," CNS News, T. Jeffrey

"The House Republican leadership on Thursday again violated a pledge they made to the nation back in 2010 that if they regained control of the House of Representatives they would put “all pieces of legislation” online for at least 72 hours before bringing them up for a vote.

On Wednesday at 4:29 p.m., the Senate passed a 574-page continuing resolution that will fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal year 2013....

There was no need to rush this 574-page piece of legislation to a vote this morning because the current continuing resolution, under which the government is being funded, runs through March 27--six days from now. There was plenty of time for the Republicans to fulfill their pledge and let Americans read and discuss this bill for at least 72 hours before they took it up for a vote....

Back on Sept. 23, 2010, when House Republican leaders were reaching out to the Tea Party movement in hopes of winning back control of Congress in that year’s midterm elections, they released a document they called “A Pledge to America.”

“We will govern differently than past Congresses of both parties,” said this Republican pledge. “We will require that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority. We will give all Representatives and citizens at least three days to read the bill before a vote.”

At the event the Republican leaders staged for release of “A Pledge to America,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R.-Utah) stood with then-House Minority Leader John Boehner, then-Minority Whip Eric Cantor and then-Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy and explained that this language meant the Republicans were promising to the nation that they would post all pieces of legislation online for “at least 72 hours.”

“We are taking a pledge today to do a number of things,” said Chaffetz. “It starts with all pieces of legislation be available online for 72 hours--at least 72 hours--so that the public has a chance to review the legislation and so that members of Congress can actually read the bill.”

McCarthy, who is now the House Republican Whip, went on national television twice and reiterated that the Republicans were pledging to America to post legislation online for 72 hours before voting on it....

After the Republicans did win back control of the House in the 2010 election, Speaker-to-be John Boehner released an op-ed on Nov. 12, 2010, highlighting his and his party’s pledge to post bills online for 72 hours before voting on them.

We will make it easier to cut spending, require bills to be published publicly for 72 hours before Congress votes, and end the practice of using 'comprehensive' bills to lump together issues that have nothing to do with each other,” wrote Boehner.

Back on March 6, when the House Republican leaders called a vote on their version of the CR, they also broke their “Pledge to America” to post bills online for at least 72 hours.

As CNSNews.com reported at the time, the text of that 269-page version of the bill was posted at 2:21 p.m. on Monday, March 4 and voted on at 2:03 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6.

This final Senate-approved 574-page version of the CR was approved by the House 318 to 109 in a vote held at 10:54 a.m. today, the morning after the Senate voted on it and the final Senate text was made available online by the House Rules Committee.

Only 27 House Republicans voted against the Senate version of the CR." via MichaelSavage.com 



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