[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MAKE MEMBER VOTING RECORDS AVAILABLE TO CONSTITUENTS

  (Ms. BEAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, last month this Chamber passed without my 
support the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act. 
Unfortunately, this body failed to truly bring sunshine to its 
decision-making process to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, democracy works best when the American electorate is 
engaged and informed. If we want to truly regain the public's trust, we 
can provide greater accountability and transparency with a simple step. 
Let's start by communicating to our constituents about the votes we 
take.
  Too many people feel left out of the process and find it difficult to 
locate and understand the votes cast by their representatives. That is 
why I encourage my colleagues to cosponsor H. Res. 797, which I 
introduced with my colleague Chris Shays.
  This resolution would require each Member of this Chamber to provide 
a clear link from their publicly-funded official Web site to a new 
voting record database organized by Member name maintained by the House 
clerk. This nonpartisan database would give each American the 
opportunity with the click of a button to view a comprehensive list of 
every rollcall vote cast by their representative and see a description 
of each vote.
  We are supposed be the most representative body of government. With 
this in mind, we should make it easy for citizens to be informed. 
Please cosponsor H. Res. 797.

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