"I haven’t been in Washington long, but it doesn’t take long to know exactly what’s wrong with it," Senator Gillibrand said.
I haven't been in Washington in a long time but it doesn't take long looking from the outside to know exactly what is wrong with it either.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announces reform agenda to clean up Washington, make Congress more accountable and transparent
"Everyday people are not being heard because too much business is happening behind closed doors. Too often the system only benefits the special interests that have way too much power. My agenda puts the interests of families before all else by making government more transparent and accountable. My reform agenda ends automatic pay raises for members of Congress, reins in special interest influence on our elections, forbids Senators from anonymously obstructing legislation, and makes the federal funding request process fully transparent so citizens can judge for themselves how politicians are spending their money."
1. Make Federal Earmark Requests Fully Transparent
Senator Gillibrand has led by example, becoming the first Member of Congress to post all of her federal funding requests, official daily schedule and personal financial disclosure on her own website. Senate and House rules now require members to post federal funding requests. Senator Gillibrand’s federal funding requests, daily public schedule and personal financial disclosure are all available here.
Just in the last day or two someone posted a diary asking folks who they liked amongst politicians and why and the above is part of what I had to say about why I like Kirsten Gillibrand.
The Earmark Transparency Act creates an easily searchable database of all federal earmarks, both authorizing and appropriating. The database will include the following information about each federal funding request:
· Amount of initial request made by requestor;
· Amount approved by the Committee of jurisdiction;
· Amount approved in final legislation (if approved);
· Type of organization receiving the request (public, private non-profit, or private for-profit entity);
· Project name, description and estimated completion date;
· Justification explaining how Congressionally directed spending item would benefit taxpayers;
· Description, if applicable, of all non-federal sources of funding for the Congressionally directed spending item;
· Requests and supplemental documents submitted to a committee of Congress.
The database will include information on all bills that pass either chamber beginning the day the bill is signed into law.
Senator Gillibrand’s legislation is co-sponsored by 24 members of the Senate and 28 reform organizations, including The Sunlight Foundation, Center for Responsive Politics, the Liberty Coalition and the Project on Government Oversight.
24 Senators have signed on. Has yours?
2. Reduce Corporate Special Interest Influence on Elections
To help keep elections fair and honest, Senator Gillibrand is pushing the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, legislation to reverse the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that allows special interests—including even foreign-controlled corporations—to spend limitless amounts of money to influence elections. This legislation ensures that corporations stand by their political actions by disclosing the primary funders of political advertising. Specifically....
There are a lot of details having to do with various disclosure requirements. Those are good but they don't stop the flow of the money itself. This is a band-aid but we need a permanent fix to the corrupting influence of money on our democracy and in our government. Rousseau warned about this corruption.
3. End Automatic Congressional Pay Raises
This is nice and makes sense but to my mind is a drop in the bucket compared to the influence of outside money on Congress members.
4. Ban Anonymous Holds on Legislation
Currently, there are 132 anonymous holds on President Obama’s federal court nominations, and countless more on other legislation before the U.S. Senate. These holds bring the legislative process to a halt with no way to hold the obstructionist accountable. Together with 67 of her colleagues, Senator Gillibrand has written to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), calling on the leaders to once and for all end the practice of Senators putting anonymous holds on legislation. The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Leader Reid and Leader McConnell,
We the undersigned Senators hereby pledge that we will not place secret holds on legislation or nominations.
We further call upon you to bring an end to the practice of permitting secret "holds" on legislation and nominations for those Senators who are unprepared to make the same pledge. While we deeply respect and appreciate the importance of tradition in this institution, we believe the practice of the secret hold has no rightful place in the Senate or in an open and transparent democracy. When a member of the Senate wishes to hold legislation or a nomination, that Senator owes to this body and, more importantly, to the American public a full explanation. The Senate endorsed this principle in Section 512 of S.1, passed by a vote of 96-2 on January 18, 2007.
As you know, S.1 has failed in practice to end the use of secret holds. We, therefore, urge you to promptly consider further changes to the Senate rules in order to bring a clear and definitive end to secret holds on legislation or a nomination. We stand ready to work with you on such a rule change, as long advocated for by Senators Wyden and Grassley, the leaders of a decade-long effort to eliminate secret holds in the Senate. We applaud their work and believe it must now be pursued to its conclusion.
Again, in making this request, we pledge that we will not place secret holds on legislation or a nomination.
67 Senators have signed on to end anonymous holds. A super majority. Why do we still have 132 anonymous holds on appointments?
This is a good stuff. There is more to do but this is a good strong start.