Rhetoric - 72 Hour Rule

= Rhetoric around the 72 Hour Rule =

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)

 * "What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and tow lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill." Journal Star, Not too much to ask from Congress, 8/1/2009

Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI)

 * "Only in Washington will politicians find a way for three days to take less than seventy-two hours, but that's exactly what's House Republican leadership has done," said Rep. Gary Peters. " The American people were promised seventy-two hours to read and review bills before a vote, but instead Republicans are using a 'three day rule' that lets them rush through bills in far less time. If you say 72 hours, you should mean 72 hours, and this kind of political double-speak is why Americans feel Washington is out of touch." Statement by Rep. Peters, 4/15/2011

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

 * But when the Budget Control Act comes up for a vote on the House Floor -- arguably the most significant bill under Boehner's leadership -- lawmakers won't have the promised 72 hours to read it. Boehner's office defended the latest move. "This legislation is similar to the House-passed Budget Control Act, with three clear and easy-to-understand changes," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Byron York of the Washington Examiner. "We wish there was time to wait three days, but as a result of Washington Democrats' refusal to offer their own plan our backs are against the wall -- and the three-day rule has a clear exception for such emergencies." Heritage Blog, House won't provide 72 hours to review budget control act, 8/1/2011
 * A collection of Boehner's 72 hour rule rhetoric on video, as compiled by the Sunlight Foundation.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

 * On September 24, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told The Weekly Standard that she was "absolutely, without question" committed to putting the text of the final House bill online for 72 hours before a vote. But...when asked if Speaker Pelosi will leave the bill online for 72 hours after we see what's in the rule, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly replied in an email "No; [the] pledge was to have manager's amendment online for 72 hours, and we will do that." The Weekly Standard, Pelosi breaks pledge to put final health care bill online for 72 hours before vote, 11/5/2009