Making all levels of government more accessible to the people they represent has been one of my number one concerns in Congress.  Specifically, I have worked hard to open-up the process for both federal direct and indirect spending.  My latest effort, working with the Sunlight Foundation and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Levin, has been to change the secretive process that has governed prior Miscellaneous Tariff Bills, known today as the Manufacturing Enhancement Act, by creating an official public database on Ways and Means’ website that identifies the Congressional sponsor of each provision, the provision’s beneficiaries, the lobbyists involved, and the cost to the taxpayer.   Now, any citizen can look up the details of the bill, learn who the losers and winners are, and see who pushed them over the finish line. To see my remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on the importance of such transparency, please click here.

Congressman Doggett has been a long-time advocate of open government—of making all levels of government more accessible to the people they represent.  As a Texas State Senator, he sought more public participation and open decision-making, as a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, his work to make some of the workings of our justice system more open, won him a James Madison Award by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, and the First Amendment Award from the National Society of Professional Journalists.