Lawmakers Ask for 72 Hours to Read All Legislation...

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/23/house-lawmakers-aim-push-back-against-hasty-votes//print/

The Washington Times
Originally published 11:18 a.m., September 23, 2009, updated 01:23
p.m., September 23, 2009
Dems block GOP demand for more time

Jennifer Haberkorn (Contact) and Kara Rowland (Contact)

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday turned back a
Republican amendment to wait 72 hours and require a full cost estimate
before the final committee vote on the health care reform bill.

It was the committee's first vote out of more than 500 amendments
awaiting them, in what has already been a contentious mark-up session.

The amendment would have delayed a vote on the final bill for about
two weeks to allow the Congressional Budget Office to complete its
final analysis on the cost and implications of the legislation.

Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln was the only Democrat to vote with
Republicans for the amendment, further signaling that she may be an
attractive swing vote for Republicans.

Instead, the panel passed an alternative amendment that would require
the committee to post the full bill, in "conceptual" instead of legal
language, as well as as a CBO cost estimate.

Separately, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Wednesday
announced their own effort to force Democratic leaders to give members
of Congress -- and the public -- 72 hours to review legislation before
any bill is brought to the floor for a vote.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Brian Baird, Washington Democrat, and
Republican Reps. John Culberson of Texas and Greg Walden of Oregon,
would require House leaders to post all non-emergency legislation
online, in its final form, three days before a vote.

The lawmakers have begun circulating a discharge petition that would
force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a vote on their bill, which
has been stuck in committee for months.

GOP lawmakers in particular have hammered Mrs. Pelosi and other
Democratic leaders for rushing long, complex bills through the House.

"The American people are angry that Speaker Pelosi didn't allow the
public and their elected representatives to read the trillion-dollar
'stimulus' bill or the national energy tax before they were rammed
through the House," Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican,
said Wednesday. "Congress can, and must, do better."

In the Senate Finance Committee debate, Democrats argued that the
amendment, offered by Sen. Jim Bunning, Kentucky Republican, was
merely an attempt to stall President Obama's top legislative priority.

"This is fundamentally a delay tactic," said Sen. John F. Kerry,
Massachusetts Democrat.

Chairman Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, promised committee members that
they'd have a preliminary analysis of the bill before they vote.

Republicans said the full analysis, which details the cost and
implications of the bill, is necessary to inform their vote.

"It's what [the public] expects us to do anyway -- read a bill before
you vote on it," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley, ranking Republican on
the panel.

Further complicating the process is the fact that the Finance
Committee works on "conceptual language" -- plain English explanations
that are later turned into legislative text.

The committee has always worked with conceptual language with the
understanding that if a lawmaker finds a discrepancy later, the
chairman can change the text to reflect what was intended.

Democrats argued that the conceptual language made it easier to
understand what the committee is voting on, but Republicans said that
the legislative details are significant.

Rushed floor votes on the stimulus bill and the cap-and-trade energy
bill -- both of which totaled more than 1,000 pages -- have fueled
calls from the public that lawmakers read bills before voting on them.
The House resolution is supported by several public-interest groups,
including the Sunlight Foundation, which point out that hasty votes
can result in unintended consequences, such as the provision tucked
into the stimulus bill that had the effect of authorizing executives
of bailed-out insurance giant AIG to receive retroactive bonuses.

Earlier this summer, Mrs. Pelosi told a reporter she would allow a
48-hour waiting period prior to bringing health care legislation up
for a vote.

The discharge petition requires 218 signatures to force a vote on the
bill, which has 98 co-sponsors. There are currently 256 Democrats and
177 Republicans in the House.