Sen. Bunning Drafting Legislation for An Even Stronger 72 Hour Waiting Period

Friday, October 2, 2009 9:54 AM

According to the Senate Conservatives Fund, Senator Jim Bunning is working on a bill that would be even stronger than H.Res. 554, a bill for which a discharge petition is currently being circulated:

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is preparing legislation that will require bills to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and posted online at least 72 hours before they can be considered by the Senate or any Senate committee. This will leave Members of Congress with no excuse for failing to read their bills and it will give the public time to express their views before legislation is passed.

If the bill was written like the amendment to the health care mark offered by the Senator in the Finance Committee in September, this would effectively lead to a greater pause than just three days. The Bunning amendment required that the bill was to be posted in legislative language (not plain English - which really is just a "conceptual bill"), and also required a score on the legislative language.  This was primary reason why Sen. Baucus and his colleagues rejected the amendment at the time,  saying it would add another two weeks to the process.  That's because  for CBO to come up with a final score, it would take a few extra days after receipt of the final language.

Senator Snowe, however, got it right during the deliberations, saying:

“I truly do not understand the skepticism about this request (…). This is about doing our job. If it takes two more weeks, it takes two more weeks. We’re talking about trillions of dollars in the final analysis. (…) Is there something happening in two weeks that we cannot wait? (…) Is it the Columbus Day recess? What is it? Because I don’t get it.”

And Americans don't get the rush either, according to this Rasmussen poll that points out that 83% of the public want the bills online before they're voted on, and 64% of those say a minimum of two weeks would be appropriate.

We're hoping this bill will get traction, but in the meantime, the House should move to bring H.Res. 554 to the floor to get the process leading towards more accountability started.

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