Legislative Transparency Quotes
The bills and legislative processes in Congress had become so large and convoluted that literally members of Congress either voted on bills that were so lage that they rarely read the entire bill or on procedures so arcane that the members could not determine ehate they were voting for. As a result most just followed the lead of their party's Congrssional Leadership.
His Republican controlled House of Representatives frequently were presented with the leadership with a vote they had to make on legislation which the minority Democrats, and often many of the Republicans, did not have any opportunity to know the details of the legislation on which they were voting.
This resolution passed and remained in effect for one session. It was one of the first attempts to limit and regulate lobbying.
At the time, most members never read the bills they voted on, though some tended to read earlier versions. The bills were very long—sometimes as long as 2000 pages. Usually a few members of Congress worked with Congressional Staffs and lobbyists to finalize bills. It was believed that the lobbyists were the only people who read the entire bills in all their versions.
At the time most legislatures never had recorded votes but instead often depended on voice votes and other methods. Edison’s invention was a huge failure. Transparency was not a popular concept amongst politicians as it still is not, but some standards have changed.
The Senate was debating the Senate Rules which allowed individual Senators to anonymously stop any Senate matter without ever identifying themselves and keeping the information that they were blocking a bill or nomination from the Senator’s own constituency.
