Morning Bell: Returning the People’s House to the People

Conn Carroll / October 26, 2010

“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in March. No single statement better epitomizes everything that is wrong with how Congress works. While Speaker Pelosi was referring to Obamacare at the time, she could have been referring to any of the thousand-plus page bills Congress passed this year. This was not how the Framers intended Congress to be run.

The House of Representatives was designed to be a broad-based legislative body, more representative of widespread public opinion and responsive to the people than any other element of the federal government. This is why the Constitution grants the House exclusive power to initiate revenue bills and take the country to war. The Founders intended the House to be a decentralized lawmaking body, not one dominated by a few select leaders.

Unfortunately over the past several decades, leadership from both parties have concentrated more and more power into a select few leadership positions. This trend reached its zenith under Speaker Pelosi who routinely: 1) bypassed committees entirely by writing major legislation in the Speaker’s office or via the Rules Committee; 2) created and funded parallel quasi-committees (e.g. the “Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming”) to outflank dissenting committee chairs; and 3) prevented opponents from offering their own proposals or amendments on the House floor. (more…)