Making Government Transparent and Accountable
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government
The Sunlight Foundation Blog
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Is it really worth it?
Last week, the House Ethics Committee confirmed that they were investigating two Caribbean trips, in 2007 and 2008, taken by a number of lawmakers, all members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), that may have violated House rules forbidding lawmakers from accepting corporate funded travel. The Committee empaneled a subcommittee to investigate and appointed G.K. Butterfield, a CBC member and participant in a similar Caribbean trip in 2005, as the chairman of the investigation.
Unlike the 2007 and 2008 trips, Butterfield’s visit to the Caribbean did not violate House rules, as the rules forbidding corporate sponsored travel were not passed until 2007 as part of a broad ethics bill. However, considering that the CBC is openly opposing this investigation and actively trying to reverse the rule that was broken by the Caribbean trip attendees, Butterfield appears to be in a fairly conflicted situation. While he has stated that “he would step down or recuse himself if he felt conflicted at any time during the investigation,” I think it’s fair to say that his personal relationships with the lawmakers who are under investigation is grounds enough for recusal. In any judicial setting — whether a judge or jury — there would be no question that a person in Butterfield’s position would not be allowed to hear this case.
This is just another example of the need for a more independent ethics body to enforce the rules of Congress. It’s getting tiring writing these posts about how the ethics process doesn’t work. Can’t you guys just get it right?
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Support Senate Roll Call Votes in XML
If not now, when?
Neither the House nor the Senate maintain any reasonable database of lawmaker votes. And while the House releases their votes in structured format, the Senate does not. There has long been a push to get Congress to adapt to changes that happened online a few years ago, but there has been minimal progress in the Senate. And yet, there is still hope.
Sen. Jim DeMint is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking Rules and Administration Committee chair Chuck Schumer and ranking member Robert Bennett to release roll call votes in XML format to allow the public to interpret “our votes on its own.” Tom Jones, a staffer for Sen. DeMint, explains the importance of this move to XML at The Next Right:
Currently the Senate posts its votes in HTML (HyperText Markup Language). In 1999, this was acceptable. But today plain HTML is the technological equivalent of a rotary telephone, adequate for a basic service but unable to perform the variety of functions modern technology now allows.
Instead of HTML, Senator DeMint is asking that votes be posted in XML (Extensible Markup Language). Without going to deep into the technology, XML would allow roll call votes in the United States Senate to be disseminated in a format that anyone can download, parse, disseminate, and distribute in any form they see fit. By having an authoritative XML stream provided by the Senate, application developers could build databases that could overlay different types of data onto Senate votes, public interest groups could match up policy background with votes, or any of a hundred other possible applications. The result would not be merely some whiz-bang technology, but rather a better informed electorate.
Unfortunately with the current HTML formatting, the best we can hope for is that outside groups successfully “scrape” the Senate webpage for votes and repackage the data on their website. This forces the public to either pay for the information from other websites or to rely on data which can be prone to errors. Such basic democratic information, how elected officials vote on important issues, should be available in the most transparent format, free and accessible to all Americans.
Like Sen. Lieberman’s resolution to free CRS reports, this is an easy win for the Senate. Unfortunately, some senators will resist this move, as they fear easy access to their voting record could provide opportunities for others — the public, opposition campaigns — to make up their own minds with senatorial spin.
This reasoning is simply not legitimate in the present day. There is already a presumption of freedom for public information in the public; senators should take heed. If you want to urge your senator to sign on to Sen. DeMint’s letter to the Rules Committee, you can find their contact information here.
Below is the full letter written by Sen. DeMint: (Continue reading…)
