Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006--Continued

LEGISLATIVE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2006--Continued

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, thank you. And I thank Senator Wyden for his leadership and the time.

Everything this body has heard the Senator from Alabama say about what is wrong with this piece of legislation is entirely inaccurate. Everything he said we need to do to study bills--to hold them up until we get a feel about everything in a bill before enactment by this body--this amendment, which brings transparency to holds, does not in any way prevent any of that from happening. All it simply says is, if you are going to put a hold on legislation, you ought to have guts enough, not be a sissy that the public might find out who you are, why you are holding something up. State for the entire country why you think this person or this bill ought to be held up in the Senate. You can hold it up for a year. You can hold it up for 1 day.

I have been putting things in the RECORD of why I put holds on bills, just as this amendment requires, for several years. And I can assure you, not one of my colleagues has beaten me up because they knew who I was. Not one of my colleagues has bloodied my nose. Not one of my colleagues has given me a black eye. Not one of my colleagues has done anything. It does not hurt. You can be a Senator. You can be out in the open. You can be transparent and still do the job you need to do.

But after all, this is the Senate. The public's business ought to be public. That is what this legislation is all about. But it also has something to do with the practical workings of the Senate. If somebody does not like a bill you propose, and they want to slow it up, you can sit down and talk to them. Now you do not even know who they are, in many instances. If you are going to do business, you have to know who to talk to. Being a part of a collegial body, as we are, talking to each other is how you get things done and move the ball along.

It is about open government. It is about reducing cynicism and distrust of public officials. It is about public accountability. It is about building public confidence. It is about making sure that as to what is being done here, the public knows who is doing it and why they are doing it. I do not see why there can be any opposition to this amendment.

A hold is a very powerful tool and must be used with transparency. I believe in the principle of open government. Lack of transparency in the public policy process leads to cynicism and distrust of public officials.

There is no good reason why a Senator should be able to singlehandedly block the Senate's business without any public accountability. The use of secret holds damages public confidence in the institution of the Senate.

Our amendment would establish a standing order of the Senate requiring Members to publicly disclose when they place a hold on a bill or nominee. For several years now, I have made it my practice to insert a notice in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD whenever I place a hold.

Under our proposal, disclosing holds will be as simple as filling out a cosponsor sheet and Senators will have 3 days to do it.

This proposal was drafted with the help of Senators LOTT and BYRD, who as former majority leaders know how this body operates and how disruptive secret holds can be to the Senate's business. Senator STEVENS has expressed his concerns about the use of secret holds. It says a lot that the longest-serving Members of this body oppose the use of secret holds and see them as a real problem.

If Senators support the goal of the underlying bill to increase legislative transparency and accountability, then they should support this amendment.

http://thomas.loc.gov/