>>Read the Bill bill H.R. 554 Update! Good news.
Posted September 24, 2009
on:Update: Read the Bill H.R. 554 still stalled in House. Discharge petition needs 218 signatures and only has 182 . Call your Representative now and ask them to sign the Discharge Petition.
Read the Bill Momentum
There’s been some big developments today, friends.
In June, we let you know that Representatives John Culberson (R-TX) and Brian Baird (D-WA) introduced a resolution, H.Res 554, that would change House rules to require all major bills to be posted online publicly for at least 72 hours before they are debated.
Essentially: a “Read the Bill” resolution.
Well, today, members of Congress filed a “discharge petition” in the House regarding that resolution, and if the petition gets 218 signatures in the House, leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will be required to schedule H.Res 554 for a vote on the House floor.
Our Read the Bill resolution has been languishing in the House for many months–years, if you include versions that have been introduced in prior Congresses–and a discharge petition is a way to force a bill to the floor for a vote. This is the time to make it happen.
Take a moment and make a phone call to ask your Rep. to sign onto H.Res 554 using our simple website. Ask your friends to do the same.
At the end of the day it comes down to this: an informed citizenry is critical to a functioning democracy. The point isn’t only whether legislators read every word, but whether all citizens – people like us – have an opportunity to review and comment on pending legislation before it has an impact on our lives.
We are going to make sure we have that chance.
There’s no ifs, ands, or buts. Legislation should be online for everyone to read.
Jake
ps For the full scoop on today’s action, read Lisa Rosenberg’s full rundown:
http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2009/09/23/72-hour-rule-momentum/
9 Responses to ">>Read the Bill bill H.R. 554 Update! Good news."

House leadership may be attempting to undermine an effort to require that you get to read all legislation and conference reports online for three days before they can be voted on.
House Resolution 554, sponsored by Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) would require a change of the House Rules to this effect – but the bill has not moved for weeks. A discharge petition is being circulated to bring the bill to the floor. If 218 House Members sign the discharge petition for House Resolution 554, the Resolution will be brought to the House floor for consideration. As of Wednesday, October 1, 181 members had signed the petition.
In what appears to be an effort to co-opt this petition drive, Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter that calls on Leadership to merely “strive to meet” a standard already in the House rules which technically would provide for a review period.
However, the big problem with that is that the rules that are in place obviously are not working, as we have seen with the way the “stimulus” and the “cap-and-trade” bills were rushed through Congress with little debate. The letter also provides for a loophole big enough to drive a truck through by stating:
We ask that the Leadership of the House strive to meet this established standard
with all major legislation, with only the rarest and most necessary of exceptions.
In other words, we’re all for transparency, except when we aren’t!?
Only binding legislation will force lawmakers to take time for debate and allow the American people to see bills and voice their opinions on them before they are voted into law.
Tell all members of Congress to sign the Discharge Petition for H.Res. 554 today


Keep up the pressure on your congressman/woman This petition is not moving. My congressm$an Frank Kratovil co-sponsored the bill but is not signing the petition. Perhaps Pelosi or Hoyer got to him and others. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATiVES


I just finished a call to the office of Rep. Travis Childers, MS District 1, asking if he had signed the discharge petition.
The staffer who answered assured me that he has not signed the discharge petition, because HR.554 has already passed.
I am willing to trust, but only if I can verify.
Who can post a checkable verification that the House Rules have been changed as specified by HR.554? I would prefer to see a search string for Google, http://clerk.house.gov, or http://thomas.loc.gov/.


[…] more at https://brendabowers.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/read-the-bill-bill-h-r-554-update-good-news/ Contact: […]

September 28, 2009 at 17:13
Thank you for this information. I am appalled. What are they so afraid of? This is just an outrage and throws transparency directly out the window.