Boehner Asks for More Committee Transparency

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Republican Minority Leader John Boehner is planning on introducing a resolution that would require House committees to post “within 24 hours the actions taken” by the committees. While vague, this would be a positive transparency provision to adopt.

Already we are seeing committees move in this direction. The House Committee on Energy & Commerce and the House Committee on Education & Labor did an excellent job of posting committee votes on amendments during the health care bill mark up in July. Almost all of the House’s debate over the health care bill has been done in a transparent fashion, so far.

Codifying these advances into the House rules would be a very positive step. Seeing as how some committees are already moving in this direction I would hope that the majority will not see Boehner’s introduction of this resolution as simply a partisan move, but rather take a serious look at this proposal.