Sylvester Turner: “Open government is an important issue because it is one that we all know that by being dedicated to information being…”

“Open government is an important issue because it is one that we all know that by being dedicated to information being available to the public, we can hold our government accountable. Unfortunately, we have an irony once again happening on the House floor, and that is that today's bill that we are considering is one that went through committee, Government Reform Committee, which I serve on, and the Armed Services Committee, which I serve on, and went through hearings where there were amendments that were provided and Members were able to participate. But this bill today is not the bill that came before those two committees. It has been amended in some backroom deal that we are all decrying here on the House floor, with language that has not been through the committee or the subcommittee. If the public were looking at this bill as it went through those two committees, they would not find that this language matches that which went through the committees. Certainly, as we dedicate ourselves to open government, we should dedicate ourselves to a process where the bills that are here are available and open to the public and the members of these two committees.”