Oh, the Irony ... Congressman Baird Champions Waiting Period, But Votes for Rushed Cap-and-Trade

Monday, June 29, 2009 12:56 PM

We're supportive of Congressman Brian Baird's effort to require that all bills and conference reports would be available on the Internet for 72 hours prior to a floor vote.  He has sponsored House Resolution 554 to this effect, and that's great. In fact, we think that period of a bill being posted online should be even longer. 

Especially in light of Baird's push for greater accountability, it struck us as ironic to see Baird's name on the list of "yes" votes on cap-and-trade.  If you followed the debate on Friday, the day of passage, it was abundantly clear that members of the House of Representatives did not have an opportunity to read the bill in its entirety. After all, an amendment was dropped in the middle of the night before, and only an hour before the vote, the Acting Speaker admitted that the clerk was still cobbling together a physical copy of the final version. 

Still, Baird cast his vote in favor of this bill, after winning concessions on a particular provision.

What do you think - should the champion of accountability legislation not have voted against the bill based on the fact that there was no time to read the final version?

If you want to contact Congressman Baird, click here.

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