House Rules Republicans Release New Report "WIPE OUT: How the Democratic Majority Abandoned Its Promises of Openness and Civility"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Jo Maney (202-226-2006)
October 21, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – The House Rules Committee Republicans released a report today that catalogues how poorly the Democratic Majority has lived up to its promise to conduct the most open and honest Congress in history. The reported, entitled WIPE OUT, is an analysis of the way the Majority has conducted debate during its first two years in control. It demonstrates clearly that they have stifled input, shut out amendments, and eliminated opportunities for members on both sides of the aisle to participate in the legislative process. An online presentation and full copy of the report can be found on the Committee Republicans’ website here.
“It seems like a lifetime ago that the Democratic Majority assured the American people they would conduct the business of the Congress in a new and open way,” Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA) said. “Two years later, their real record is on the books and it is shocking. They have operated the most closed, most restrictive Congress in recent memory and at the same time, accomplished little. They also increasingly employed arcane legislative tactics like ‘ping-ponging’ bills back and forth between the House and Senate, eliminating the conference committee process and any opportunity for amendment. Shutting out more amendments, using more closed rules, and abandoning the appropriations process altogether – it’s not new, and it’s certainly not open.”
Among the key findings about the 110th Congress in WIPE OUT are:
- More than 50 major bills were considered outside regular order with no hearings, no markups, and often less than 24 hours between their introduction and floor consideration.
- More bills were considered under closed rules, 64, than in the previous Congress, 49.
- Fewer bills were considered under open rules, 10, than in the previous Congress, 22.
- Fewer amendments were allowed per bill, 7.68, than in the previous Congress, 9.22.
- Fewer conference committees were held, 24, than in the previous Congress, 31.
- Procedures to deliberately deny the Minority its guaranteed right to a Motion to Recommit (MTR) were used 25 times. The previous Congress never denied an MTR.
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