[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1501 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1501

 To require the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to conduct 
 the business of the Committee in a manner that is open to the public.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 2, 2011

 Mr. Heller (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Lee, Ms. Ayotte, 
  Mr. Paul, Mr. Boozman, and Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                        Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to conduct 
 the business of the Committee in a manner that is open to the public.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. TRANSPARENCY.

    Section 401(b)(5) of the Budget Control Act of 2011 is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (E)--
                    (A) in clause (ii), by inserting ``and make the 
                agenda available to the public'' after ``meeting''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) Open meetings.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Except as 
                                provided in subclause (II), each 
                                meeting, including a quorum of members, 
                                of the joint committee shall be--
                                            ``(aa) made open to the 
                                        public; and
                                            ``(bb) made available for 
                                        television coverage.
                                    ``(II) Exception.--The joint 
                                committee may conduct a closed meeting 
                                for the purpose of discussing 
                                classified information.''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (F)(ii), by adding at the end the 
        following:
                                    ``(III) Open hearings.--
                                            ``(aa) In general.--Except 
                                        as provided in item (bb), any 
                                        hearing conducted by the joint 
                                        committee shall be--

                                                    ``(AA) made open to 
                                                the public; and

                                                    ``(BB) made 
                                                available for 
                                                television coverage.

                                            ``(bb) Exception.--The 
                                        joint committee may conduct a 
                                        closed hearing for the purpose 
                                        of discussing classified 
                                        information.''.
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