Politicos approve bill they haven't read; goodbye, taxpayer privacy? [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

I criticized Nancy Pelosi a few weeks ago, but she's entirely in the 
right on this. Good for her.

See this editorial from Friday's Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13533-2004Nov25.html
"Sadly, this year's bill, passed by Congress last week, was no better, 
and on some counts it was worse. Not only was the $388 billion bill once 
again late and once again stuffed with pet projects, but this time it 
also contained what appears to be an egregious assault on taxpayer 
privacy: a provision slipped into the bill by staff that nobody much 
noticed until the votes had already been taken. The congressman in whose 
name the provision was requested, Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), 
swears he knew nothing about it. Because of the uproar from Democrats as 
well as their own party, House Republican leaders have agreed to summon 
their colleagues back next month to repeal the provision, thereby 
further delaying the whole process."

-Declan


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Pelosi -- 'Assault on Taxpayer Privacy Was Not a Simple 
Mistake; Democrats Will Not Let Republicans Sweep It Under the Rug'
Date:   Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:56:36 -0500
From:   Democratic Leader <Democratic.Leader () mail house gov>


News From House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
H-204, The Capitol, Washington D.C. 20515

http://democraticleader.house.gov

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Contact: Brendan Daly, 202-226-7616

Pelosi: 'Assault on Taxpayer Privacy Was Not a Simple Mistake; Democrats 
Will Not Let Republicans Sweep It Under the Rug'

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the 
following statement on the Republican assault on taxpayer privacy and 
the need for the Republican leadership to give Members time to read the 
bills on which they are asked to vote:

"This extraordinary invasion of privacy did not have the majority 
support of either chamber.  It was a 'Saturday night massacre' on 
Americans' privacy made possible only by the Republicans' willingness to 
abuse the rules of the people's House.

"The Republican leadership forced through a so-called 'martial law' rule 
that required a same-day vote, preventing Members of Congress from 
having enough time to read legislation that spent hundreds of billions 
of dollars and was thousands of pages long.  This arrogance of power is 
part of a pattern of abuse.  In the 108th Congress alone, the leadership 
proposed same-day votes nearly 30 times.

"The assault on taxpayer privacy was not a simple mistake, and Democrats 
will not let Republicans sweep it under the rug.  Therefore, I have 
informed Speaker Hastert that while Democrats insist that the taxpayer 
persecution provision be deleted, we will only agree to a unanimous 
consent procedure tomorrow if Republicans also agree to limit the use of 
martial law rules.

"To prevent future instances of hasty and dangerous decision-making, the 
House of Representatives must obey current rules that require that 
Members of Congress have a minimum of three days to read legislation 
before voting on it.

"To ensure that government operations are unaffected, I have also 
informed the Speaker that Democrats support passage of a continuing 
resolution to fund government agencies through December 8, and an 
agreement to vote on legislation to delete the taxpayer persecution 
provision on December 6, after the rest of the spending bill can be 
examined."

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