Political Quotes

“Mr. Wolfensberger reminds us of the promises made by the Senate leadership in 2006 as part of their ``honest leadership and open Government'' reform plank. Conference meetings were to be open to the public, and members of the conference committee were to have a public opportunity to vote on all amendments. Copies of conference reports were to be available to Members and posted publicly on the Internet 24 hours before consideration. Bills were to be developed following full hearings and open subcommittee and committee markups and were to come to the floor under procedures that allow open, full, and fair debate. These practices have been followed in some cases. I mentioned the farm bill already as an example of a conference committee in action. But procedures governing the conference process and the markup process are only relevant if there actually is a conference committee or there actually is a committee markup. As noted in Mr. Wolfensberger's article, the number of instances in which major legislation has been dealt with outside the conference process has increased markedly in this Congress. The supplemental appears destined to become another example.”