Organizations Across The Political Spectrum Ask House And Senate Leaders To Post Committee Votes Online

Apr 15, 2008

Today, POGO and eighteen organizations from across the political spectrum joined Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in asking leaders in both the Houses of Representatives and the Senate that all committee roll call votes be posted on their websites within 24 hours in tandem with an easily accessible online database of those votes.

Currently, retrieving committee votes from Congress is at the very least cumbersome and sometimes even impossible. The only reliable way to review committee votes is to pay thousands of dollars each year to private organizations such as Congressional Quarterly, National Journal, or Gallery Watch, thereby making the votes inaccessible to those who either cannot afford to pay those costs or to visit the relevant committee offices.

CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said today, "Leaders in both houses have publicly pledged to ensure greater transparency and accountability in Congress. By posting committee votes online, everyone, not just lobbyists and interest groups, will have greater access to and information about decisions made in Congress. Just as roll call votes for the full House and Senate are readily available on the Internet, committee votes should be similarly available."

The following twenty organizations joined today's effort:

American Civil Liberties Union

American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

American Federation of Teachers

Americans for Prosperity

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Campaign Legal Center

Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

Defenders of Wildlife

League of Conservation Voters

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