We’re enormously relieved to read that the Super Committee will hold public meetings:

Both meetings are open to the public and the press, according to the release from Hensarling and Murray.

This is actually the first time we’ve been sure that the new Joint Committee on Debt Reduction was formed in late July, despite press broad advocacy and press coverage, and even an explicit call from Leader Pelosi.

Cochairs Hensarling and Murray have made the right decision, as they apparently recognized that meeting entirely in private would be wildly inappropriate, given the Super Committee’s broad, sweeping mandate.

Citizens, organizations, and Members of Congress all helped make clear that the Super Committee’s official meetings must be public.  Our work isn’t done yet, though.

Nothing guarantees that the rest of the Super Committee’s official meetings will be public, and, perhaps more importantly now, we’ve got to be sure that lobbying and campaign finance disclosures for the Super Committee members are public in near real time.  The status quo is utterly unacceptable, as the lobbying and campaign finance reports won’t be public until well after the committee’s work is done — in mid-January.

So we’re very glad the Super Committee is listening, because holding a few meetings in public is only the first step.