Is the Congressional Record for Sale?

A new twist on the fictions inserted into the Congressional Record:

Is Congressional Record for sale?

By MICHAEL MALIK
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
April 18, 2006

WASHINGTON - Hanging in the lobby of its office in Grand Rapids, Mich., is a plaque honoring Universal Forest Products for its 50th anniversary.

“Universal is a great American business success story and it is my privilege to honor the company, its chairman, Peter Secchia, and its thousands of employees,” reads the plaque, which hangs alongside other awards and photographs at company headquarters.

It’s a copy of a statement that Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., inserted into the official Congressional Record on Feb. 1, 2005.

What it doesn’t say is that nine days before Ehlers put the statement into the record, Secchia gave Ehlers a $1,000 campaign contribution. About two weeks earlier, another Universal executive donated $500. Since 2001, the two executives have given Ehlers’ campaign committee $7,000.

The practice of honoring campaign donors in the Congressional Record is commonplace among members of the House of Representatives, according to a study by the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. 

Continue reading full article

Another example cited by Reason magazine: 

On June 8, 2006, as Congress mulled a measure to repeal the estate tax, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California rose to oppose the proposal. “Now is not the time,” the Democrat declared, “to place the interests of a small number of millionaires ahead of millions of working families.” She continued in this vein for over 1,100 words, then yielded the floor to Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican took the opposite point of view, declaring the levy “one of the most destructive, unfair taxes ever conceived by government.” Then more senators took their turns at the microphone, arguing one side or the other: Mike Enzi, Tom Harkin, Lamar Alexander, Carl Levin, John Kerry, Orrin Hatch, Conrad Burns, Gordon Smith, Barbara Mikulski, John McCain. Barack Obama called the proposal “the Paris Hilton tax break,” which probably prompted some chuckles in the gallery.

Or would have, had he actually said it. Though all that activity appears in the Congressional Record, none of it really occurred. Only eight senators participated in the debate; the others—everyone listed above—pasted their remarks in later. 

Continue reading full Reason article

Congressional Committees - Secrecy and Delayed Transparency

VoterWatch has been trying to post searchable videos of committee hearings.  Frankly, we’ve found it very frustrating because many committees don’t post video, audio or a transcript.  If you are a lobbyist, there’s a number of services that you can pay a lot of money to and get a same-day transcript.  But if you are a typical Joe like us, good luck on finding out what happened in the committee hearing.  It’s ironic that the Ethics committee - provides no public no transcript, no audio and no video…

Here’s the summary of our findings on the state of acccountability in our Congress from what is available on their websites.

House Committees

House Committee on Agriculture
http://agriculture.house.gov/index.shtml

Transcripts: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html
Audio and Video: available streaming live (no archives) http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html

Appropriations Committee
http://appropriations.house.gov/

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: none

House Armed Services Committee
http://armedservices.house.gov/

Transcripts: http://armedservices.house.gov/audio_transcripts.shtml
Audio and Video: live streaming audio only (no archives) http://armedservices.house.gov/audiocast.shtml

Committee on the Budget
http://budget.house.gov/

Transcripts: http://budget.house.gov/hearings.htm
Audio and Video: live streaming, and select archives http://budget.house.gov/hearings.htm

Education and Labor
http://edlabor.house.gov/

Transcripts:http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house/house06ch110.html
Audio and Video: live webcasts on home page http://edlabor.house.gov/
Archived Video: http://edlabor.house.gov/committee/hearings.shtml

Energy and Commerce
http://energycommerce.house.gov/

Transcripts: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house/house05ch110.html
Audio and Video: select hearings and a limited archive: http://energycommerce.house.gov/archives/archive_main.shtml

House Committee on Financial Services
http://financialservices.house.gov/

Transcripts: http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings_all.shtml
Audio and Video: live steaming only http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings_all.shtml

House Committee on Foreign Affairs
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/

Transcripts: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp?subnav=close
Audio and Video: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp?subnav=close (only transcripts are archived)

Committee on Homeland Security
http://homeland.house.gov/

Transcripts:http://homeland.house.gov/hearings/index.asp (only select hearings)
Audio and Video: http://homeland.house.gov/hearings/index.asp (only select hearings)

Committee on House Administration
http://cha.house.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: None

Committee on the Judiciary
http://judiciary.house.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: Select hearings http://judiciary.house.gov/hearinglist.aspx

Committee on Natural Resources
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/

Transcripts: nothing seems to work on this site
Audio and Video: live webcasts http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/

Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform

Transcripts: yes about 2 -3 week delay
Audio and Video: yes, available same day or next day, also archived
http://oversight.house.gov/hearings.asp

Committee on Rules
http://www.rules.house.gov/

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: none

Committee on Science and Technology

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: it appears they only feature random, member-related events and not hearings: http://science.house.gov/press/multimedia_center.aspx

Small Business Committee
http://www.house.gov/smbiz/

Transcripts: by speaker, not clear if these are just statements or actually delivered: http://www.house.gov/smbiz/democrats/statements.htm
Audio and Video: Video highlights on YouTube (they provide you with a link: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BA85856F6D9FD5D5)

Committee on Standards and Official Conduct
http://www.house.gov/ethics/

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: none

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Transcripts: written testimony only http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/
Audio and Video: none

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
http://veterans.house.gov/

Transcripts: opening statements and prepared testimony only http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/completed.html
Audio and Video: audio only http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/index.html

Committee on Ways and Means
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/

Transcripts: None of the transcripts available. Some testimonies and opening statements http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp
Audio and Video: live webcast, no archives http://waysandmeans.house.gov/

Joint Committee on Taxation
http://www.house.gov/jct/

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: none

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
http://intelligence.house.gov/

Transcripts: opening statements on 2 open hearings http://intelligence.house.gov/OpenHearings.aspx?Section=9
Audio and Video: none

Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

Transcripts: none
Audio and Video: none

Senate Committees

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
http://agriculture.senate.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: None

Appropriations
http://appropriations.senate.gov/

Transcripts:testimony http://appropriations.senate.gov/hearings.cfm
Audio and Video: select Web-casts and archives http://appropriations.senate.gov/webcasts.cfm

U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services
http://armed-services.senate.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: None

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=FAQs.View&FAQ_id=16
Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: None

Senate Budget Committee
http://budget.senate.gov/

Transcripts: Select statements on the link below
Audio and Video: Streaming video (Real) http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/hearingstate.html; some archives.

Commerce, Science, and Transportation
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: Archived Webcasts organized by month (http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.ByMonth)

Energy and Natural Resources
http://energy.senate.gov/public/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: Live Webcasts (no archive)
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Nowebcast

Environment and Public Works
http://epw.senate.gov/public/

Transcripts: Select testimony: http://epw.senate.gov/public/
Audio and Video: Archived webcasts (http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Home)
Link to the 109th Congress: http://epw.senate.gov/epwmultimedia/epwmultimedia.htm Seems like only select hearings, and with a significant time lag.

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
http://foreign.senate.gov/

Transcripts: select testimony: http://foreign.senate.gov/hearing.html
Audio and Video: none

Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
http://help.senate.gov/

Transcripts: Select testimony at the link below
Audio and Video: Select hearings http://help.senate.gov/Hearings.html

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
http://hsgac.senate.gov/

Transcripts: Select testimony at the link below
Audio and Video: live streaming and select archives: http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Home

Committee on the Judiciary
http://judiciary.senate.gov/

Transcripts: select testimony at the link below
Audio and Video: select web-casts: http://judiciary.senate.gov/schedule.cfm

Committee on Rules and Administration
http://judiciary.senate.gov/schedule.cfm

Transcripts: Statements at the link below
Audio and Video: Archived web-casts http://judiciary.senate.gov/schedule.cfm

Small Business and Entrepreneurship
http://sbc.senate.gov/

Transcripts: select statements at the link below
Audio and Video: select webcasts from hearings and markups http://sbc.senate.gov/events.cfm

Committee on Veterans Affairs
http://veterans.senate.gov/public/

Transcripts: select statements
Audio and Video: select audio and video http://veterans.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?pageid=16

Indian Affairs
http://indian.senate.gov/public/

Transcripts: select statements http://indian.senate.gov/public/
Audio and Video: None

Ethics
http://ethics.senate.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: None

Aging
http://aging.senate.gov/

Transcripts: None
Audio and Video: Select video http://aging.senate.gov/hearings.cfm

Intelligence
http://intelligence.senate.gov/

Transcripts: Select opening statements http://intelligence.senate.gov/hearings.cfm
Audio and Video: None