Financial Bailout Bill Posted Online
September 29, 2008 01:48 p.m. by Stephanie Taylor
Our friends at the Sunlight Foundation believe (like we do) that all legislation should be posted online for at least 72 hours before a vote, to give lawmakers and citizens sufficient time to review and debate it. The "Financial Bailout" bill was posted online for review--which was a start. But Sunlight Foundation called on Congress to go farther.
They created a petition urging Congress to wait until October 1, 2008 before voting on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. (That would be 72 hours since it was first posted online.)
You can read the petition here.
From the Sunlight Foundation's press release:
"Congress took a real step yesterday toward legislative transparency, by giving the public access to the proposed bailout legislation by posting it online in advance of floor consideration," said Ellen Miller, executive director and co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation. "But, before the bailout proposal is considered by lawmakers, it must undergo an even more important test: evaluation and assessment by Americans. That's why we are calling on citizens to sign a petition to urge Congress to wait 72 hours between when the bill was first posted online and the actual vote. We believe all legislation should posted online for at least three days before a vote to give lawmakers and citizens sufficient time to review and debate it, and this bill is no exception. This isn't a bill to rename a few courthouses; this bill is Congress's biggest intervention in the economy in decades. This important legislation deserves more time for public scrutiny."
Speaker Pelosi and the House Financial Services Committee posted the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 as a PDF yesterday in the late afternoon. Late Sunday night, Sunlight posted the text of the legislation PublicMarkup.org, allowing citizens to review and comment on the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry before the House and Senate vote on the measure. The simple-to-use blog-like layout of PublicMarkup.org lets users critique the entire bill or offer views on specific provisions, bringing citizen oversight to the legislation.
Since Sunlight posted the legislative proposals from the Treasury Department and Senator Dodd on PublicMarkup.org last week, citizens flooded the site with hundreds of comments on these iterations of the bailout bill.
Comments (1)
We the people want to be represented and listened to. I'm sick of Representatives and Senators being brought off by lobbyists, seeking money to put into there pockets, sick of CEO's making 159 million dollars and for being ripped off by oil companies. When in the hell is someone going to stand up for the American citizens? When in the hell is someone going to say LOBBYISTS AND SPECIAL INTERESTS GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE BECAUSE I'M REPRESENTING MY PEOPLE NOT MYSELF.
GIVE THIS MONEY BACK TO THE AMERICAN CITIZENS AND STOP RIPPING AMERICANS OFF. TAKE CARE OF AMERICA. THAT IS WHAT WE ELECTED YOU TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE.
WE DON'T NEED TO BAILOUT WALLSTREET, WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THE HARD WORKING AMERICANS THAT ARE JUST TRYING TO MAKE IT.
THE RICHER DON'T NEED TO BECOME RICHER!!!!
GIVE US BACK THE MONEY THAT YOU FREAKING WANT TO GIVE TO WALLSTREET. CREATE JOBS HERE AT HOME AND STOP BUYING FOREIGN OIL, COME UP WITH ALTERNATIVE FUELS, ALLOW DRILLING, AND A BETTER ENERGY PLAN.