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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
8:48 AM EDT
Sandra Fabry

Pelosi to Taxpayers: We Don't Want Your Input

The following was cross-posted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:
 
One would think that after the public outcry over how the "stimulus" package was passed - rushed at lightening speed and with no transparency - lawmakers in Congress would have gotten the memo. They apparently did not, as we saw in the way the cap-and-trade bill passed through the house last Friday.
 
However, Speaker Pelosi seems to think there's nothing wrong with keeping taxpayers in the dark. When asked explicitly whether taxpayers would have an opportunity to fully scrutinize the health care reform bill before a vote this fall she refused to commit to posting the bill online for five days before calling a vote.
At her press briefing on Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether the health-care bill would be handled differently than the stimulus bill, which came up in February. The 1,071-page final text of that bill was posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s Web site late on a Thursday night and then voted on the next day.

“When the stimulus bill came out earlier this year, members and citizens had less than two days to review the final version that came out of the conference committee before it was voted on,” CNSNews.com asked Pelosi on Thursday. “Will you commit to giving Americans at least a week to review the full conference version of the health care bill before it is voted on? And also will you commit to submitting the final version to the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] so that they can report the cost to the public?”

Pelosi would not commit to giving the public a week to review the bill, and did not respond to the question of having the CBO report on the cost of the final bill.

“Well, we will abide by the regular order. You heard the question,” she said. “It was about having the health care bill out there a week in advance. We will have the regular order in terms of the appropriate amount of time, 48 hours in advance for amendments before you file the bill, another day before you can take up the bill.
Senate Majority Harry Reid has also refused to rule out a repeat of the "stimulus" when it comes to transparency - so be prepared for another round of votes on a bill nobody has read in full ...
Posted by Sandra Fabry on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:48 AM EDT
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