Grassley Resolution to Make Senate Amendments More Transparent to the Public

Press Release

Sen. Chuck Grassley today introduced a Senate resolution to improve transparency in the legislative process by making the amendments filed by senators immediately available to the public online. Amendments are already available online to senators and congressional staff once they are filed, and Grassley's resolution simply would give the public the same level of access.

"The more people are aware of what we're doing in Washington, the more accountable we are," Grassley said. "This resolution will improve transparency in the Senate and hold us all more accountable to the people we serve."

Grassley's resolution would require the secretary of the Senate to make amendments filed to pending legislation available online at the same time as they become available to senators and staff. As it stands now, numerous amendments get filed to bills during debate, but those amendments are often not publicly available until The Congressional Record is printed the next day. "In a lot of cases, that may be too late. The Senate may have voted already on an amendment," Grassley said. "Sometimes those amendments are enormous -- like managers' amendments that can constitute an effective rewrite of the underlying bill -- but even when they're narrow, their impact can be tremendous."

In other cases, Grassley said, the Senate may be voting on an amendment filed days earlier and printed in The Congressional Record one day after it was filed. That means in almost every case, the substance of the amendment being debated and voted on is not easily accessible to the general public. "Only Washington insiders end up navigating the confusing maze to find amendments," Grassley said. "Instead, the public's business ought to be public."

Grassley's resolution would be a binding requirement on the Senate and would become effective upon a Senate vote.

The resolution is his latest effort to increase Senate transparency. Also today, Grassley testified before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in favor of his longtime proposal, with Sen. Ron Wyden, to end the Senate practice of secret holds on legislation or nominations. Grassley voluntarily discloses any hold he places in the interest of transparency.

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