Dems Touting "Sunshine" Along With Deem Rule
At the same time Dems are considering hardball tactics to get health care legislation over its final hurdles, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office is urging members to tout "sunshine" rules that promote government accountability.
Today, the House takes up a measure requiring federal agencies to use simple language in writing official documents; a proposal to ensure e-mails are preserved by federal archivists; and a bill that would require members to use the money left in their annual office accounts to pay down the debt.
The good-government proposals come as GOPers cry foul over Pelosi's suggestion the majority could use so-called "deem and pass" measures to force the Senate health care bill through the House without an actual vote.
"During Sunshine Week, which focuses on the importance of open government and freedom of information, Congress is taking action to make the government more accountable, transparent and responsive to the American people," reads a fact sheet distributed to House Dems' offices, and which was provided to Hotline OnCall by an incredulous Dem aide.
"The public's right to know what its government is doing is fundamental to a thriving democracy and critical to empowering the American people to play an active role in their government, and to giving them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger," the document reads.
GOPers have spent the week denouncing the proposal to use the controversial parliamentary maneuver, calling instead for an up-or-down vote. Earlier today, House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer promised an up-or-down vote, but, in an appearance on "Good Morning America," he defended self-executing rules as "not an unusual procedure."
You cannot have a democracy without a vote!!!