Restoring American Finacial Stability Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I am going to speak for about 5 minutes on the effort to finally, once and for all, eliminate secret holds in the Senate. Senator Grassley, my partner in this effort for a decade, will also speak. Then, two colleagues on our side who are a part of this large, bipartisan coalition, Senator Whitehouse and Senator Bennet, and who also have done very good work along with Senator Grassley, Senator Inhofe, and Senator Collins, who have been part of a bipartisan coalition, will take just a few minutes.

Let me also express my appreciation to the chairman of the committee, Senator Dodd, Senator Durbin, and others who have been so helpful.

This bipartisan amendment will abolish the secret hold in the Senate, which, in my view, is a violation--an indefensible violation--of the public's right to know. With a secret hold, any Senator can block a piece of legislation or a nomination in secret simply by telling the leader of their party of their desire. This means that one person, without any public disclosure whatsoever, can keep the American people from even getting a peek at what is public business.

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said: ``That's where the money is.'' In the Senate, secret holds are where the power is. With a secret hold, one of the most powerful tools a Senator has to affect the lives of our people can be exercised anonymously.

In 2007, the Senate sought to eliminate secret holds. Since then, big loopholes have been developed to keep too much Senate business in the dark, unaccountable, and away from the public.

This bipartisan amendment closes those loopholes. With this bipartisan proposal, every single hold in the Senate will have an owner who is public within 2 days. It is an amendment that will be enforced. Here is how it would work: If a Senator puts a hold on a bill or nomination, they are required to submit a written notice in the Congressional Record within 2 days. When that bill or nomination comes to the floor and any Senator objects to its consideration on the grounds of a hold, one of two things will happen: either the Senator placing the secret hold will have their name publicly released or the Senator who objects on their behalf will own that hold, and then that individual will have their name published in the Congressional Record. For the first time, there would be both public accountability and peer pressure on those trying to keep Senate business behind closed doors.

The bipartisan proposal includes two additional reforms. First, the proposal eliminates the ability a Senator has today to lift a hold before the current 6-day period expires and never have it disclosed. This has been a huge abuse. It has allowed a Senator to do business in secret and never have it reported.

With the new proposal, if a Senator places a hold--even for a day, even for a minute--that hold is going to be disclosed. Second, the proposal makes it harder for a group of Senators to place revolving holds on a nomination or a bill. I particularly thank Senator Whitehouse, who has highlighted this issue of revolving holds in his past comments on the floor. With the 6-day time period, a group of Senators can literally pass a hold from one colleague to another and never have it disclosed. By requiring all holds to be made public, it will be much more difficult to find new Senators to place revolving holds.

What this comes down to is the question of whether public business ought to actually be done in public. It seems to me that if it is important enough for a Senator to say they are making it a priority to keep a bill or nomination from coming to a vote, that ought to be a public matter and not be something that is decided in the shadows, away from the public and unaccountable.

I thank my colleagues. This has been part of a bipartisan coalition. No one has put more time into this cause than my friend from Iowa, Senator Grassley. I also thank Senator McCaskill, who has prosecuted this cause of accountability and openness relentlessly, along with Senators WARNER, WHITEHOUSE, BENNET, INHOFE, and COLLINS--I could go on.

Finally, there is a desire in the Senate to eliminate secret holds once and for all. I will close with this. I don't think that 1 out of 100 people in this country have any idea what a secret hold is. Most people probably think it is some kind of hairspray. It is one of the most powerful tools in our democracy that is being used to keep what is public business from the eyes of the American people, and it has to change.

I will yield to my colleagues, Senators GRASSLEY, WHITEHOUSE, and BENNET. I thank Chairman Dodd and Senator Shelby for indulging us at this time. It seems to me that when Senator Dodd has done so much good in terms of arguing for openness and accountability on Wall Street, this is a perfect time to say we ought to have that in the Senate. That is what we are going to do on a bipartisan basis today.

I yield the floor.

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