[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   INTRODUCTION OF THE SUNLIGHT RULE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 2, 2006

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously 
said, ``Sunlight is the best disinfectant.'' In order to shine sunlight 
on the practices of the House of Representatives, and thus restore 
public trust and integrity to this institution, I am introducing the 
sunlight rule, which amends House rules to ensure that Members have 
adequate time to study a bill before being asked to vote on it. One of 
the chief causes of increasing public cynicism regarding Congress is 
the way major pieces of legislation are brought to the floor without 
Members having an opportunity to read the bills. This is particularly a 
problem with the Appropriations conference reports, which are often 
rushed to the floor of the House in late-night sessions at the end of 
the year. For example, just this past December, the House voted on the 
Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations Conference Report at 
approximately 4 a.m.--just 4 hours after the report was filed. Yet, the 
report contained language dealing with avian flu, including 
controversial language regarding immunity liability for vaccine 
manufacturers, that was added in the House-Senate conference on the 
bill. Considering legislation on important issues in this manner is a 
dereliction of our duty as the people's elected representatives.
  My proposed rule requires that no piece of legislation, including 
conference reports, can be brought before the House of Representatives 
unless it has been available to Members and staff in both print and 
electronic version for at least 10 days. My bill also requires that a 
manager's amendment that makes substantive changes to a bill be 
available in both printed and electronic forms at least 72 hours before 
being voted on. While manager's amendments are usually reserved for 
technical changes, oftentimes manager's amendments contain substantive 
additions to or subtractions from bills. Members should be made aware 
of such changes before being asked to vote on a bill.
  The sunlight rule provides the people the opportunity to be involved 
in enforcing the rule by allowing a citizen to move for censure of any 
House Member who votes for a bill brought to the floor in violation of 
this act. The sunlight rule can never be waived by the Committee on 
Rules or House leadership. If an attempt is made to bring a bill to the 
floor in violation of this rule, any member could raise a point of 
order requiring the bill to be immediately pulled from the House 
calendar until it can be brought to the floor in a manner consistent 
with this rule.
  Mr. Speaker, the practice of rushing bills to the floor before 
individual Members have had a chance to study the bills is one of the 
major factors contributing to public distrust of Congress. Voting on 
bills before Members have had time to study them makes a mockery of 
representative government and cheats the voters who sent us here to 
make informed decisions on public policy. Adopting the sunlight rule is 
one of, if not the, most important changes to the House rules this 
Congress could make to restore public trust in, and help preserve the 
integrity of, this institution. I hope my colleagues will support this 
change to the House rules.

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