On the recordJanuary 5, 2011
I want to thank the chairman of the Rules Committee. I wanted to talk just briefly about the transition itself, and I want to thank members of both parties who participated in very meaningful ways in our transition. I think it was an unprecedented effort in terms of its size and inclusiveness. Four members of our team were incoming freshmen. We offered Democrats the opportunity to participate both formally and informally, an act of bipartisanship that has been missing, frankly, from prior organizations going back over both parties' tenure in leadership. I asked Speaker Pelosi to designate two Democratic participants. We distributed surveys to every Member, chief of staff, and scheduler on both sides of the aisle to get as many ideas as possible to reform the people's House. Let us always remember that this is the people's House. It is their business. It is the taxpayers' money, and the public has the right to observe and participate in this process. The outcome is the rules package before us today. The transition team received more than 2,000 suggestions from the general public submitted through our Web site. And what did we accomplish? Bills will now be posted online in a searchable format at least 3 days before receiving a vote on the House floor. No longer will bills be dropped in the middle of the night and voted on the next day.
