Senate Proceeding 01-27-11 on Jan 27th, 2011 :: 0:00:40 to 0:04:50
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0:00:21 to 0:00:42( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: affects millions and millions of americans. the fight for more sunshine in the way the senate does business feels like it has been the longest running battle since the trojan war. today, after scores of battles, the cause of open government is

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Speech By: Ron Wyden

0:00:43 to 0:01:04( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: going to prevail. over the years senator grassley and i and with the strong support of senator mccaskill, we've been able to secure leadership agreements to end secrecy. we've been able to pass amendments, send them to conference committees where they

0:01:05 to 0:01:25( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: would then magically disappear ski si. we one time got a watered down version of our law passed. in each case the defenders of secrecy have found a way to keep sunshine out and obstruct the public interest. when this proposal passes, we believe there will be real

0:01:26 to 0:01:47( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: change. and there three reasons why we believe our bipartisan proposal to end secret holds will be different from previous approaches. the first is that now with any hold here in the united states senate, there would be a public owner.

0:01:48 to 0:02:08( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: every single hold would have a united states senator who was going to be held accountable for blocking a piece of legislation. second, there would be consequences. in the past there have never been any consequences for the senator who objected anonymously.

0:02:09 to 0:02:31( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: in fact, the individual who objected would usually send somebody else to do their objecting for them and they would be completely anonymous. essentially the person would be doing the objecting would sort of say, i'm not really involved here, i'm doing it for somebody else, so the entire senate lacked transparency with respect

0:02:32 to 0:02:52( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: to who was actually responsible. and, third, wyden-grassley-mccaskill proposal would deal with all holds whether they reached a point of objection on the floor or objected to when hotline. our bill requires an objection to be public -- that never get

0:02:53 to 0:03:13( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: called up on the floor. and this is a particularly important provision, mr. president, and my colleagues, senator grassley and senator mccaskill, feel very strongly about this as well. because most holds never reached the point that there is an objection on the floor.

0:03:14 to 0:03:35( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: and that is something i think that has been lacking in this debate. they hear about discussions of people objecting on the floor. most holds never reach that point. typically what happens is that a united states senator who objects to a bill or nomination tells the senator -- the senator's leader that the matter shouldn't be allowed to come up for a vote and then the leader

0:03:36 to 0:03:58( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: objects to bringing up the bill when it is hotlined. because of that objection, the bill or nomination never actually gets called up on the floor. the bill -- that type of hold effectively kills the bill or nomination long before it gets to the point of an objection on the floor. so we want to make it clear that

0:03:59 to 0:04:19( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: this is an important distinction and that for the first time we wouldn't just be talking about objection that's are made on the floor. i see my friend and colleague, senator mccaskill, who has crusaded relentlessly for this, senator grassley and i, i said senator mccaskill we sort of

0:04:20 to 0:04:40( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: feel like we've been added as part of the longest running battle since the trojan war. your energy has been absolutely crucial in this fight. and i would also point out, mr. president, that i think we know that the defenders of secrecy will always try to find a way around anything that passes. we think we have plugged the holes here.

0:04:41 to 0:04:51( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: we think we've finally made the crucial differences, but the fact that you have been such a relentless watchdog for the public interest, an opponent of