House Rule Change May Cloud Transparency on Patent Reform

Back in 1994, reforms to the House rules were made to tackle the issue of "secretive" legislative processes. The reforms included opening committee meetings to the public and media, term limits for committee chairmen, "truth in budgeting", elimination of the committee proxy vote, authorization of a House audit, specific requirements for blanket rules waivers, and guarantees to the minority party to offer amendments to pieces of legislation.

It is now being reported that Speaker Pelosi is looking to reverse the "House Fairness Rules" to allegedly consolidate power in the (recently expanded) Democratic majority. Needless to say, the Republicans are not happy, and the leadership has shot off a letter to voice their objections:

The American people[] stand to pay a price if the Majority [] shuts down free and open debate on the House floor by refusing to allow all members the opportunity to offer substantive alternatives to important legislation -- the same opportunities that Republicans guaranteed to Democrats as motions to recommit during their 12 years in the Minority. The Majority’s record in the last Congress was the worst in history when it came to having a free and open debate on the issues.

See a copy of the full letter here.

Connie Hair, writing for Human Events, decribes the situation this way:

Pelosi’s proposed repeal of decades-long House accountability reforms exposes a tyrannical Democrat leadership poised to assemble legislation in secret, then goose-step it through Congress by the elimination of debate and amendment procedures as part of America’s governing legislative process.