Letter Calling On House Democrats To Publish Caucus Rules Online
April 10, 2019
House Democratic Caucus
1420 Longworth
House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Jeffries:
We,
the twenty-two undersigned organizations, write to renew our request that you
publish the current rules for the Democratic Caucus of the House of
Representatives on the Democratic Caucus website.
You received two letters, dated January 31, 2019,1 and February 7, 2019,2 from twenty-six organizations requesting online
publication of the Democratic Caucus rules. You responded on February 7, 2019:
“Thank you for your reasonable request with respect to the publication of the
Democratic Caucus rules. We believe in transparency and accountability, and in
that spirit, the issue will be presented to the Caucus for consideration in
short order.”3
Two
months have now elapsed since your response. The caucus rules still are not
available on the Democratic Caucus website.
Just as publication of the rules for the House of Representatives is
necessary for government accountability, so too is publication of the caucus
rules. Public access empowers understanding of legislative branch activities,
provides essential details on how you govern, and exemplifies your commitment
to open government. The Democratic Caucus rules do not merely set forth rules
of procedure, but embody the values of House Democrats.
We
would welcome an update on when the rules will become publicly available.
Please contact Daniel Schuman, policy director, Demand Progress Education Fund,
at Daniel@DemandProgress.org or
240-237-3930.
Sincerely
yours,
American Civil Liberties Union Campaign for Liberty
Center for Responsive Politics Coalition to Reduce Spending Color Of
Change
Demand Progress
Education Fund E-PluribusUnum.org
Government
Accountability Project Government Information Watch GovTrack.us
Issue One Lincoln
Network
Open the
Government Our Revolution
Project On Government Oversight
R Street
Institute RootsAction.org Social Security Works Sunlight Foundation
Taxpayers for
Common Sense Transparency
International-USA
X-Lab
cc: Speaker
Pelosi Majority Leader Hoyer
1 https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/letters/Democratic_Caucus_Rules_Letter_2019-01-31.pdf
3 https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/documents/Letter_from_Chairman_Jeffries_2019-02-07.pdf
