Sen. Thomas R. Carper Holds a Hearing On Government Transparency
Political Transcript Wire › April 19, 2010
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Sen. Thomas R. Carper Holds a Hearing On Government Transparency
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY HOLDS A HEARING ON GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY
APRIL 13, 2010SPEAKERS: SEN. THOMAS R. CARPER, D-DEL. CHAIRMAN SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH. SEN. DANIEL K. AKAKA, D-HAWAII SEN. MARK PRYOR, D-ARK. SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, D-MO. SEN. ROLAND BURRIS, D-ILL. SEN. JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, I-CONN. EX OFFICIOSEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. RANKING MEMBER SEN. TOM COBURN, R-OKLA. SEN. GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, R-OHIO SEN. JOHN ENSIGN, R-NEV. SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, R-MAINE EX OFFICIOWITNESSES: JOHN WONDERLICH, POLICY DIRECTOR, SUNLIGHT FOUNDATIONROB PINKERTON, DIRECTOR, PUBLIC SECTOR SOLUTIONS FOR ADOBE SYSTEMS, INC.STEPHEN O'KEEFE, FOUNDER, MERI TALK ONLINETHOMAS BLANTON, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE[*] CARPER: Good afternoon. This is a little bit like church, you know? And in church there are pews up front and pews in back. The pews up front are always empty. And if you'll turn around you'll see what I mean. The folks that are sitting in the back pew there, they all look kind of young. And I don't know where you ladies and gentlemen are from. But where are you all from? (UNKNOWN): (OFF-MIKE)CARPER: Minnesota? Oh, good. So this is like American pie; this is good. (LAUGHTER) We're glad you're here. Oh, so I say we have your back. This group has your back. So I said we should come to order, and our thanks to our guests and our witnesses who are to be here today. For the next hour or so, we're going to discuss ways that President Obama and his team of open government experts can reshape both old and inefficient bureaucratic agencies into lean, not so mean, citizen-focused machines. And we'd hoped to hear from our panel of witnesses today a couple of weeks ago, but there were larger issues at play and unfortunately, we had to take a rain check. As I recall, we had to basically stop our hearing. And I guess there's a procedure and a process in the Senate that at the beginning of a legislative day, the leader, the Majority leader or his or her deputy will offer unanimous consent for the committees to meet beyond a two-hour limit. And if we don't get that unanimous consent, we can't meet. And the unanimous consent was sought, was refused. Somebody objected from the other side. And as a result, we had to close down all of our committee hearings throughout the Senate abruptly, and we apologize again for the disruption. But we're just glad that our witnesses were willing to come back, and nobody objected today, so we could all be here. But before our hearing ended last month, we were able to hear from one panel. And that was from the administration's top officials who are leading the Open Government Initiative. I applauded to then, I would today, the administration for releasing the guidance to reduce wasteful agency spending, to make senior leaders more accountable, and to improve, we hope, the lives of everyday Americans. It s...See the full content of this document
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