Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the legislative climate the United States Senate has found itself operating in. Like many of my colleagues, I began my political career in local government. I…
Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the legislative climate the United States Senate has found itself operating in. Like many of my colleagues, I began my political career in local government. I was mayor in my hometown and then served as a legislator in the Wyoming State Legislature. It was during this time I learned that the most effective legislation comes from a process that is transparent and focused. For example, the Wyoming State Legislature requires that all bills must be focused on one issue. They cannot be loaded up with random provisions, riders, and add-ons that have nothing to do with the overall legislation. In Congress, we often use omnibus bills to pass multiple legislative items that should be considered on their own merit. Omnibus often create more problems in the long run than they solve.
Instead of focusing on one policy issue at a time, we have allowed legislative logjams to foul up the Senate's work and ill-considered legislation to be hastily pushed through this institution. These legislative practices, which have become the norm are a gangrene that eats away at this institution.
Legislation that is fundamental to our country's wellbeing has become politicized and burdened with extraneous provisions that have not been fully vetted through the regular order. Most of the time Members have not had the opportunity to read the bills they are voting on, let alone the public which will have to live under and pay for whatever lurks in the unseen pages. By tolerating this behavior, the Senate is allowing legislation needed to address our Nation's most pressing challenges to go through unrefined and lousy with special interest provisions.
To help bring this institution back in line with its original purpose, today I submit my Single Issue Legislation resolution. I want this resolution to be a starting point for changing the attitude the Senate has toward building bills. It will allow us to focus on getting individual issues addressed more effectively. Specifically, this resolution enacts a standing order that creates a point of order against a bill or resolution that is not confined to a single issue. This point of order can only be overruled by a supermajority.
My Single Issue Legislation gives the Senate the flexibility in the amendment process it has always enjoyed and allows the Senate as a legislative body to develop the structure and scope of the standing order through practice and precedent rather than through arbitrary rules. At the same time, we ensure that our legislative process is focused and productive. In short, we bring ourselves back to how the Founding Fathers intended and wanted our legislative process to operate.
Our job is not to score political points by stuffing as many pet projects and knee-jerk provisions as we can into bills, but rather to represent the needs of our constituents, our States, and our country by doing what is best for us as a nation. We must get back to a better process for crafting and considering legislation so that we can enact effective policies to meet the many challenges we face today. This is why we were elected to serve in the United States Senate. We owe it to the people we represent to work through a process that allows legislation to be properly and thoroughly considered and debated. My Single Issue Legislation resolution helps us do just that.
