The Hill Report

This week in Washington, I joined my Republican colleagues on the Rules Committee in documenting the breakdown of debate, decorum, and deliberation in the House of Representatives at the hands of the Rules Committee.

In a report entitled “Out of Order,” Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier (R-CA), Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA), Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and I outline the vast discrepancy between the Democrat Majority’s promises to lead the “most honest, ethical and transparent Congress in history” and the reality of the 110th Congress.

The new Majority has not only failed to keep their promises to the American people, but they have repeatedly waived long-standing precedent and transparency measures in a desperate attempt to prevent Members from interfering with the Democrat Leadership’s preferred outcome. The result has been a disorganized and chaotic House floor.

The “Out of Order” report details a Rules Committee operated by partisan advantage, including the following heavy-handed tactics:

• Rewriting bills to include massive tax increases and Medicare cuts with no debate.
• Rejecting more Minority-sponsored amendments than the previous Congress.
• Issuing more than double the number of closed rules prohibiting amendments than the previous Congress.
• Reducing by an entire day the amount of time Members have to review legislation and submit amendments for consideration.
• Adopting a policy of turning some Members of Congress away at the door of the Committee when they attempt to submit amendments.
• Abandoning its pledges for regular order in the House by jamming through huge bills with less than 24 hours for review.

Following this report, the Majority Party immediately lived up to our accusations. On Wednesday night, the Rules Committee refused to allow any Republican Members from offering a single amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act (H.R. 3121) —despite their own Chairman's stated wishes to the contrary.

 
In testimony before the Rules Committee, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) clearly encouraged the Committee to consider all substantive and non-duplicative amendments. Unfortunately, the Rules Committee refused to accept even Chairman Frank’s request for bipartisanship.

 
As a result, Chairman Frank joined my colleagues and me in protesting the Rule that excluded any Minority amendments:
“I want to be very clear that I regret the decision not to allow a number of amendments offered by members of the minority to this bill, and I will give them my word that as this legislative process goes forward, I intend to seek out opportunities to give them fair consideration. I must say, Mr. Chairman, that I’m never happy when I see my colleagues on the Republican side being a little obstreperous, but when they are being obstreperous with good reason, I really find that hard to tolerate.” (House Floor Statement - September 27, 2007)

Chairman Frank further displayed his disapproval of his party’s heavy-handed tactics by taking the highly-irregular action of voting only “Present” on both the Previous Question procedural vote and the Rule for the Flood Insurance bill.

This latest abuse of power is the product of a Democrat Majority that is willing to undermine Members’ ability to represent their constituents—effectively disenfranchising the representation of 46 percent of our nation. I am disappointed that they deliberately chose to once again place political expediency above fairness and good public policy, and I call upon the Majority Party to fulfill its promises of open, honest, and transparent government. The American people deserve nothing less.

Resolution Condemning MoveOn.Org Exposes Voting Differences
As you know, earlier this month the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.Org produced a full-page ad in the New York Times attacking General David Petraeus, the U.S. Commander in Iraq, prior to his testimony before Congress. The disrespectful “General Betray Us” title and ensuing character assassination displayed toward General Petraeus garnered well-deserved condemnation, including a bi-partisan Senate resolution condemning the ad.

Unfortunately, Democrats in the House of Representative refused to consider a similar resolution condemning MoveOn.org. Undeterred, my Republican colleagues and I forced a House floor vote on the language, condemning in the strongest possible terms MoveOn.org’s personal attacks on General David Petraeus and honoring the members of the Armed Forces and their families.

I am pleased to report that the measure received overwhelming support with 341 bipartisan votes in favor and 79 Democrat votes against the condemnation of MoveOn.org.

Interestingly, 11 Democrats switched their position on the resolution in just half an hour, voting against the resolution in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and then changing their vote minutes later when presented with the very same language on the House floor.

This flip-flop on positions underscores the need for increased transparency and to provide the American people with additional tools to obtain a comprehensive view of every Member's full voting record.

As you may remember, last spring I introduced H.Res 231 - legislation to make every vote a Member takes more transparent by requiring all committees to post record votes on their websites within 48 hours of being taken.

Currently, only one committee of the 21 standing committees makes any of this information available, and I believe that Americans deserve clear and timely access to their Member's votes at every point in the legislative process.

In the coming days, I will continue working with my colleagues to promote transparency in the legislative and encourage the adoption of my resolution to give voters a timely, centralized and modern communication medium to access a Member's full voting record—not just votes taken on the House floor.