Four of Colorado’s congressmen launch bipartisan bid for transparency

WASHINGTON — Four members of Colorado’s congressional delegation introduced a bipartisan U.S. House Resolution intended to end the practice of adding unrelated amendments to pending legislation in order to avoid airing important policy issues in public.

Reps. Lamborn, R-Colo. Dist 5, Jared Polis, D-Colo. Dist. 2, Cory Gardener, R-Colo. Dist 4 and Scott Tipton R-Colo. Dist. 3, Wednesday moved forward with the resolution, which would limit any bill considered by Congress to a single subject. The bill is similar to one introduced during the last congressional session by Lamborn and Polis.

The resolution aims to ensure that Congress does not pass bills that contain unrelated amendments and other items. When Members of Congress use the ploy to skirt hearings, it adds to the eventual costs of legislation, adding to the budget deficit.

Colorado’s General Assembly uses the single-subject rule.

“This Resolution would ensure that all House bills are transparent. This means lawmakers must put forward bills that address a single issue, not this cobbling together of unrelated items,” Lamborn said. “If something is important enough to warrant legislative action, it deserves to be fully and openly debated and voted on, not shoved into an unrelated bill and pushed through without a separate hearing.

“The people of Colorado, and the nation as a whole, deserve transparency in what laws are being passed by their elected representatives,” Lamborn added.

Polis likened the amendment tactic to Christmas.

“One of the most frustrating things I face in representing the people of Colorado in Congress is voting on enormous ‘Christmas tree’ bills with unrelated measures, some of which I support, some of which I oppose,” Polis said.

“The Colorado legislature gets their work done in a straight forward and transparent way thanks to the ‘single-subject rule’, which requires each bill have a single legislative intent that is clearly described in its title,” Polis said. “It’s time to apply some Colorado common sense to Washington, D.C.”

Tipton said the resolution would prevent “giant omnibus bills designed to slip through items that may otherwise fail under Congressional debate.”

“During my campaign I made a promise to work to increase transparency in government, and single subject legislation is a step in that direction,” Tipton said.

Gardner agreed with the resolution’s goal of transparency and added: “Our current system is falling short by allowing completely unrelated riders to be included in bills at the last minute. In limiting bills to a single subject, we are ensuring that lawmakers and the public know exactly what is in legislation before it is voted on.”