Ron Paul Quotes.com 2007 Ron Paul Chapter 15 Ron Paul Quotes.com: Introducing The Sunlight Rule 12 January 2007 Home Page   Contents Congressional Record   Cached Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.

Introducing The Sunlight Rule 12 January 2007 HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, January 12, 2007 2007 Ron Paul 15:1 Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” In order to shine sunlight on the practices of the House of Representatives, and thus restore public trust and integrity to this institution, I am introducing the sunlight rule, which amends House rules to ensure that members have adequate time to study a bill before being asked to vote on it. One of the chief causes of increasing public cynicism regarding Congress is the way major pieces of legislation are brought to the floor without members having an opportunity to read the bills. For example, concerns have been raised that in the opening days of the 110th Congress, legislation dealing with important topics such as national security are being brought to the floor before members have had an opportunity to adequately study the legislation. 2007 Ron Paul 15:2 In past Congresses, it was all-too-common to see large Appropriations bills rushed to the floor of the House in late-night sessions at the end of the year. For example, the House voted on the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations Conference Report at approximately 4 a.m. — just four hours after the report was filed. Yet, the report contained language dealing with avian flu, including controversial language regarding immunity liability for vaccine manufacturers, that was added in the House- Senate conference on the bill. Considering legislation on important issues in this manner is a dereliction of our duty as the people’s elected representatives. 2007 Ron Paul 15:3 My proposed rule requires that no piece of legislation, including conference reports, can be brought before the House of Representatives unless it has been available to members and staff in both print and electronic version for at least ten days. My bill also requires that a manager’s amendment that makes substantive changes to a bill be available in both printed and electronic forms at least 72 hours before voted on. While manager’s amendments are usually reserved for technical changes, oftentimes manager’s amendments contain substantive additions to, or subtractions from, bills. Members should be made aware of such changes before being asked to vote on a bill. 2007 Ron Paul 15:4 The sunlight rule provides the people the opportunity to be involved in enforcing the rule by allowing a citizen to move for censure of any House Member who votes for a bill brought to the floor in violation of this act. The sunlight rule can never be waived by the Committee on Rules or House leadership. If an attempt is made to bring a bill to the floor in violation of this rule, any member could raise a point of order requiring the bill to be immediately pulled from the House calendar until it can be brought to the floor in a manner consistent with this rule. 2007 Ron Paul 15:5 Madam Speaker, the practice of rushing bills to the floor before individual members have had a chance to study the bills is one of the major factors contributing to public distrust of Congress. Voting on bills before members have had time to study them makes a mockery of representative government and cheats the voters who sent us here to make informed decisions on public policy. Adopting the sunlight rule is one of, if not the, most important changes to the House rules this Congress could make to restore public trust in, and help preserve the integrity of, this institution. I hope my colleagues will support this change to the House rules.

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