Democrats Oppose Instituting 72 Hour Waiting Period Before Voting On Baucus Bill
Press Release
Sen. Cornyn co-sponsors amendment to increase transparency and ensure understanding of bill's true cost prior to voting
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today co-sponsored and voted for an amendment to increase transparency in the health care reform debate. This amendment requires that before the Finance Committee can vote on final passage of health care legislation, the legislative language must be publically available on the Finance Committees website for at least 72 hours. Yesterday, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Finance Committee that it will take at least two weeks to fully score the legislation. Despite this, Senate Democrats objected and voted down the amendment.
Sen. Cornyn spoke this morning on his support for the amendment.
Excerpts from Sen. Cornyn's comments are below
I strongly support this amendment. I remember sitting on the dias when President Obama was inaugurated and gave his inaugural speech where he talked about the importance of transparency in government. He said transparency breeds accountability and builds public confidence.' I think this Committee has done a good job under your leadership putting the amendments that have been filed on the website on Saturday. I've gotten emails, tweets and all sorts of communication about amendments that I've filed and other people have filed.
I would suggest to you this legislation has captured the imagination and certainly the attention of the American people. There are a lot of people across America who are reading these bills - they've read the House bill, they've read the HELP Committee Bill and they are intensely interested in what this Committee is doing.
For a bill - most of which will not be implemented until 2013 - it is not an inconvenience, it is not something we ought to overlook, the opportunity to get the American people to be able to read it and get a full score. I've heard a lot of discussion at town hall meetings and elsewhere. People are mad about Congress voting on things we haven't even read.
I don't know how anybody can be held accountable or build public confidence if we don't have the information, and the American people don't have the information, to make their own evaluation, to ask questions and hold us accountable.
Background
The Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that it will take "about two weeks to do a formal cost estimate" after they have the full bill.
CBO: "It Will Take Us About Two Weeks To Do A Formal Cost Estimate"
CBO DIRECTOR DOUGLAS ELMENDORF: "So We've Told All The People Who've Asked That It Will Take Us About Two Weeks To Do A Formal Cost Estimate After We Have A Full Bill, But We Can Do A Updated Preliminary Analysis More Quickly Than That." (Finance Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 9/22/09)
* SEN. KENT CONRAD (D-ND): "With Respect To The Issue Of When Scoring Might Be Available, Because This Is Obviously A Sensitive Matter, It Is Critically Important That We Have Scoring Before A Final Vote Is Cast On The Committee." (Finance Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 9/22/09)
* SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): "I just have to tell you, Mr. Elmendorf, this is a very serious concern of this committee, to urge you to with all deliberate speed make sure that you address the scoring of this bill and the modifications and give us a preliminary as soon as you can...I can't overemphasize how important this point is." (Finance Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 9/22/09)
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Agriculture and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.
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