The Senate released a memo today detailing how the Senate will recognize and disclose secret holds after changing the rules... View Article
Continue readingAdopting A New Rule: Really Ending Secret Holds
The Senate just voted to end the practice of secret holds by a 92-4 vote. The four senators voting against... View Article
Continue readingOuting another secret hold senator and hoping for an end to secret holds
The Senate has yet to convene for its first official legislative day and thus we have to wait for them... View Article
Continue readingNobel Prize in Economics goes to secret hold victim
Here’s an interesting development in the world of secret holds: the Nobel Prize committee just awarded Peter Diamond the Nobel... View Article
Continue readingDeMint blocking secret hold bill
There seems to be a recurring theme with transparency legislation. Senators just love to block these types of bills. There... View Article
Continue readingSecret Hold on Bailout Oversight Lifted
According to POGO and TPM Muckraker, the hold on the nomination of Neil Barofsky to head the bailout oversight office... View Article
Continue readingMore On The Bailout Oversight Hold
TPM Muckraker has been all over the hold placed on the nomination of Neil Barofsky to lead the oversight of... View Article
Continue readingHold Put On Bailout Oversight Office
According to TPM Muckraker, a Senate Republican placed a secret hold on the nomination of Neil Barofsky to lead the... View Article
Continue readingEnsign Amendment Actually a McConnell Amendment
On Monday, S. 223, the Senate electronic filing bill was blocked for a third time, this time by Sen. John Ensign who offered an amendment that would require outside organizations filing ethics complaints to disclose their funding sources. This non-germane amendment did not originate from Ensign’s offices. Sunlight has learned that last week Democratic offices were given a Unanimous Consent agreement that would have allowed the Senate to move to S. 223 only if they agreed to take up a an amendment identical to the one introduced on Monday by Senator John Ensign. The consent agreement came from none other than the offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell, whom the Sunlight Foundation has targeted as a culprit in covering up the identity of the anonymous Senators previously blocking the bill. That the “McConnell amendment” is now being offered by Senator Ensign comes as no surprise to long time McConnell watchers, who are well aware that when it comes to reform, McConnell is often hiding behind the scenes, pulling all the strings. . The document shows that the effort to block S. 223 originates not from the offices of Sen. Ensign but from the Minority Leader’s office. So, McConnell wasn’t hiding the identity of a fellow senator, he was hiding himself!
Continue readingWhat’s McConnell Hiding?
Today, the Sunlight Foundation launched a new campaign to reveal which senator is blocking passage of the Senate Campaign Disparity Act (S. 223). If you’ve been following this story here you know that twice this bill - which would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically - has been blocked by an anonymous Republican senator who is being hidden by Sen. Mitch McConnell. In his home state of Kentucky we are launching a billboard and a Web site to force McConnell to reveal the name of the anonymous senator. The Louisville Courier-Journal and the Politico have already picked up the story. Check out What’s McConnell Hiding? for more details or continue reading below the fold. We have a number of ways for you to get involved.
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