They Said They Would Shut Down Debate, And They Did!
Speaker Nancy Pelosi - “[W]e promised the American people that we would have the most honest and open government and we will.” (Press stakeout, December 6, 2006).
October 17, 2007
Mark it down – the Democratic Majority’s Rules Committee finally managed to keep a promise! It’s no secret that it’s been a struggle for them to live up to their promises for a more open and transparent debate. Perhaps the strain became too much and they determined it would be easier to promise they would shut down debate rather than open it up for legitimate discussion. At yesterday’s hearing on the Majority’s ill-conceived FISA bill, they promised they would shut down debate, and they did!
As eight members sat waiting to testify on their amendments, Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) broke new ground by announcing that the rule providing for debate would be closed at the beginning of the hearing. This declaration came before any witnesses had been heard or any testimony had been received on the 27 substantive amendments submitted to the Rules Committee for consideration. Hours later, Slaughter and her colleagues made good on their promise to shut down debate and issued that closed rule.
Among the amendments rejected by the Majority were several that would have strengthened the bill or made it more likely to receive bipartisan support:
- An amendment that would have incorporated the proposal for FISA Modernization submitted by the Administration to the Congress in April of this year.
- An amendment that would have extended FISA to include individuals and groups engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- An amendment that would have provided liability protection to communications providers who, in good faith, assisted the government with intelligence activities following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The closed rule issued on H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act of 2007, brings the total number of closed rules considered by this Congress to 38, more than double the number considered at the same point by the previous Congress, 16.
Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA), Rules Committee Ranking Republican, said the pattern of closed rules for important bills like FISA reform and S-CHIP has lead to serious issues being bogged down by partisan gamesmanship and uncertainty. “This Majority’s refusal to engage in any debate whatsoever is beginning to have real world consequences. An issue as important as FISA reform needs to be bipartisan. This Majority had their mind made up it was never going to be. And what will happen? They will pass a bill without the support it needs to become law. Chairwoman Slaughter’s decision to close down this debate before it even started is a further demonstration that this Majority doesn’t want to solve problems, they just want to score points.”