This session, we past a transparency bill that would help shed light on how all government operates. This session, both sides have articulated on the floor and in committee meetings, how good policy is created. This has become mere rhetoric.
Each day we get a list of bills that will be debated on the Senate floor. On Thursday, February 25, we also got a list of bills that were to be debated. As we finished debating this list, a bill came up that wasn’t on the calendar. It was the biggest bill that has hit the Senate floor in the last 20-years. (government reorganization bill) Included with this bill, was an amendment that got dropped on this bill.
This occurred Thursday, at 5:45pm, the bill was debated on the floor and it was passed. However, this bill begs the question? The Democrats trumpeted this bill as the greatest reorganization and savings bill of our time. From day one of session, this was “the great bill” On Thursday, it was passed under the cloak of darkness, no sunlight on the amendment, no transparency, no time for organizations or agencies to respond to the amendment to make it better. It was rushed through, and NO comments were offered.
This is a very poor way of creating policy. The bill was jammed through the process! I am appalled at how the majority managed this 300 page bill! This is what power and politics creates. Unfortunately, this “fly by the seat of you pants” method, affects all of us through poor policy that has not been properly vetted.
Below are my comments on the floor concerning this issue.