Mr. President, there has been much debate over the past year regarding ``secret holds'' stalling the consideration of presidential appointments or slowing expedited passage of legislation by the…
Mr. President, there has been much debate over the past year regarding ``secret holds'' stalling the consideration of presidential appointments or slowing expedited passage of legislation by the Senate. Lost in this discussion has been an issue that should be a far greater concern for taxpayers--``secret spending.''
This body routinely attempts to pass hundreds of bills costing tens of billions of dollars or more in secret without debate, votes, or amendments. It does so using an unofficial process not found in Senate rule books known as the ``hotline.''
The U.S. Senate is often referred to as ``the world's greatest deliberative body.'' This is because Senate rules grant each of the Senate's 100 members rights that cannot be overridden by a simple majority, including the right to require debate before a bill is considered or passed.
Yet, the Senate practice known as the ``hotline'' often prevents and precludes debate. In fact, Senators often do not even read the bills being passed using the hotline.
The term ``hotline'' or practice of ``hotlining'' bills does not appear in the Senate's official rules, but this procedure is utilized nearly every day the Senate is in session. A hotline is an informal term for an alert sent to members of the Senate giving notice of a proposed agreement to allow a bill or resolution to be approved by the Senate without debate or amendment. A measure that is ``hotlined'' is recorded in the Congressional Record as a being agreed to by unanimous consent, UC.
Hotlines occur at the discretion of the Majority Leader in consultation with the Minority Leader. The leader's office contacts each Senate office with a message on a special alert line called the ``hotline,'' which provides information on what bill or bills the leader is seeking to pass through unanimous consent. Hotline notices are only given to Senate offices.
If there is an objection to the bill being ``hotlined,'' a senator is asked to call the leader's office and give notice of intent to object to the bill being passed by unanimous consent whenever such a request may occur. The process of notifying the leader's office of an objection to ``hotline'' is informally referred to as a ``hold.'' In practice, instead of requiring explicit unanimous consent to pass a bill, the ``hotline'' process only requires a lack of dissent.
In many instances, bills are hotlined for which no text, description, or budget estimates have been made publicly available. In some Senate offices, the ``hotline,'' or request for unanimous consent to pass a measure, may never even reach senators, and the decision to allow a bill to be approved without debate is determined by staff, who do not even read the bill.
When a bill is ``hotlined,'' the public is not informed and neither is the media. Only the offices of senators are alerted. It is therefore a form of ``secret spending.'' Much like a ``hold'' can be kept from the public, so can the ``hotlining'' of bills, which can cost billions of dollars.
The vast majority of legislation approved by the Senate is done so via the ``hotline'' under the guise of unanimous consent. According to the Congressional Research Service, CRS, ``in
the last ten Congresses, 110th-101st, an average of 93 percent of approved measures did not receive roll call votes'' and ``in the 111th Congress through February 1, 2010, 94 percent of approved measures were approved without a roll call vote.''
Every time the Senate passes legislation without full and open debate, the American people are done a disservice. The Senate should not pass a new bill if its text, purpose, and budget estimate are not available to the general public.
Taxpayers and the media should have the right to read and analyze legislation prior to its passage. Senators, likewise, have a responsibility to know the contents of legislation prior to granting consent for its passage. Additionally, hotlining bills take away the accountability for legislation approved by the Senate. Since there is no recorded vote for most hotlined bills, senators have no culpability for most of the legislation approved by the Senate.
The lack of of an objection from unelected staff should not be sufficient to pass legislation that could spend millions or even billions of dollars and significantly alter U.S. laws.
In many cases, if a senator objects to a hotline request--even if the objection is merely to be granted sufficient time to study and review the text, cost, and impact of the legislation--special interest groups will immediately label the senator who is trying to be diligent as an undemocratic obstructionist.
But the truth is neither democracy nor taxpayers are served well by this process. ``Hotlining'' bills enable the hasty passage of legislation without the public's knowledge or feedback. This process benefits politicians and special interests rather than taxpayers.
Senators have an obligation to their constituents to do their jobs, which includes reading the bills and understanding the impact of legislation passed by Congress.
Today I am introducing the ``Stop Secret Spending Resolution'' along with Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. This bi-partisan legislation would provide transparency and accountability by prohibiting a bill or joint resolution from passing without a vote until the hotline notifications are available on a public website for at least 72 hours. The public notice much include: a cost analysis completed by the non- partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO); the number of new programs created by the legislation; and the actual legislative text.
The new 72 hour rule would not apply to noncontroversial item such as post office namings and sense of the Senate resolutions; nominations; any legislation relating to an imminent or ongoing emergency; or a unanimous consent request made when a quorum of the Senate is present.
Voters are demanding Congress bring greater accountability to the legislative process. Ending secret spending represents a meaningful first step to guaranteeing increased accountability and transparency by providing sufficient time for the public to review legislation before it is passed by Congress.
I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of this legislation.
