Diana DeGette

One of the priorities that the Executive order said is that he wants to tailor--the President wants to tailor regulations to impose the least burden on society.

Sometimes regulations are not cost-effective, and they should either be fixed or repealed. But sometimes regulations protect the public health and actually can save money.

So that might affect a regulation that was a bad regulation or a good regulation; right? It's a great big mallet that comes down and kills that regulation.

When I talk to businesses in my district, small and large, one of the great frustrations is obsolete regulations.

I have always been a proponent of regulatory reform, but I don't think regulations are--I don't think regulations per se have values attached to them.

In January of this year, President Obama issued an Executive order directing Federal agencies to develop plans for improving the regulatory system.

I wish the majority, rather than complaining in vague terms about the regulatory reform efforts and the unemployment rate, would actually sit down with the minority and, with us, together, develop a jobs bill.

I think we really need to grapple with what we are going to do.

I think it is important, if we are really going to look at development of nuclear energy, not just to say well, we think that we can safely store the spent fuel on site the way we are now.

There certainly would be a shortage of storage capacity even with that.

Even if we did certify Yucca Mountain, that facility, at least according to the original plan, was statutorily limited to 70,000 metric tons, correct?

What are we going to do with the nuclear waste that we have sitting around at all of the sites around the country?

But when you cut through all of that partisan bickering, all of us would agree that we want to have open disclosure.

What you want is, A, disclosure and, B, people not working if they have the conflicts of interest.

I am not saying that you should have registered lobbyists, but every so often it might be appropriate, if disclosed.

I actually have the list. And I am sure it is on your Web site, so you could get it, too.

There's nothing wrong with somebody going out for a cup of coffee. There is something to me that looks bad if somebody is holding a meeting at a coffee shop to avoid disclosure.

Has any administration, Democrat or Republican, before the Obama administration, routinely posted these WAVES records on line?

To date, there are over 1.25 million White House visitor records posted on the White House Web site in a searchable format; is that right?

Frankly, I would like to see ways to disclose on the video people who come to the White House and so on.

It appears that we're not holding a hearing to gather facts but, rather, to provide a forum for Members to air allegations about the White House.

The Obama administration has a strong transparency record and, frankly, it is perfectly appropriate that Congress conduct oversight of these policies and look into whether these policies are in fact being followed.

I am pleased that President Obama has prioritized transparency and has acted to back up these promises.

Open government practices are integral to ensuring public confidence and respect for Government institutions, and Congress has a duty to conduct vigilant oversight to ensure sunshine in the executive branch, regardless of which political…

These principles are important elements of a democracy. They represent basic principles of good government that transcend administrations, partisan politics, and the politics and issues of the moment.