Wow, this is exciting. The Republican Committee on Rules has posted their rules changes for the 112th Congress.
It looks like the TEA Parties have awakened the GOP with the need to change the way Congress operates.
I have taken the liberty of re-formating the text in order to make it easier to read.
The House Republicans have released their proposed package of rules changes for the 112th Congress. These changes will be considered during the continued organization meeting of the House Republican Conference in early January and on the opening day of the 112th Congress.
Honoring the Pledge to America
As promised in the Pledge, members will not be able to introduce a bill or joint resolution without a “statement citing as specifically as practicable the power or powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact” it. This will serve to refocus members of Congress, with every bill they introduce, on the Constitution that they take an oath to support and defend.
Keeping another promise made in the Pledge, under the new House rules, no bill will be voted upon without being available online for at least three calendar days. The rules package reads, “it shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution which has not been reported by a committee until the third calendar day…on which such measure has been publicly available in electronic form.” This will ensure members, the media, and the American people have an opportunity to read the bill before any vote.
A new standard for transparency and openness
For the first time under the House rules, “in electronic format” will be the standard by which are made bills available. Placing bills and other texts online for the American people to see will increase public scrutiny and accountability and yield a better legislative process.
Transparency and openness in the committees
In the new Congress, Speaker-designate Boehner has vowed to restore bill-writing power to the committees. As committees are where much of the legislating will be done in the 112th Congress, under the new House rules they will be required to meet enhanced transparency standards. Committees must:
- Post online their committee rules
- Provide 3 days notice for all markups
- Circulate the text of legislation to be marked-up no less than 24 hours before the markup
- Post online all votes in the committee 48 hours after a markup (A proposal from Rep. Reichert)
- Make available online the text of any amendments adopted in a markup (A proposal from Rep. Jenkins)
- Post online “truth in testimony” information, “with appropriate redactions to protect the privacy of the witness” so that any conflicts of interest with hearing witnesses are made public
- Make available online the member attendance record for each hearing and markup within 24 hours
- Webcast and make available online their hearings and markups
Committees will be required to file activity reports twice annually, up from the current one report per Congress. According to the rules, “such report shall include —separate sections summarizing the legislative and oversight activities of that committee…, a summary of the actions taken and recommendations made with respect to the oversight plans…, a summary of any additional oversight activities undertaken by that committee and any recommendations made or actions taken thereon.” This will give the public an easy mechanism to judge the performance of each committee.
This is just the start of the proposed rules package. See the Whole Article . . .
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