February 14, 2012
The Honorable David Dreier
Chairman
Committee on Rules
H-312, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Dreier:
We are writing today to express our deep concern over the manner in which you have chosen to consider HR 7 - the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012.
From the beginning, the process employed by Republican leadership in developing and advancing this legislation has been devoid of the collaborative, bipartisan spirit which was previously the standard for transportation legislation. The result is a 1000 page amalgam which cobbled together arbitrary and unrelated measures, some of which have never been considered by any House Committee. In the words of Transportation Secretary and former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood, "This is the most partisan transportation bill that I have ever seen…It's the worst transportation bill I've ever seen during 35 years of public service.-
This morning, we received notification that the Rules Majority plans to make an already bad situation worse by splitting up this legislation into three random bills. At best, this is a thinly veiled attempt to force through bad legislation that many of your own Members do not support. At worst, this new approach is in direct violation of your own leadership's stated commitment to transparency and undermines the integrity of the legislative process for the sake of political expediency.
Members have submitted, in good faith, almost 300 amendments to the original 1000-page measure. This last minute change causes confusion and makes the absurd assumption that these Members would wish to offer the same amendment to a different bill that they have not even seen. This approach dramatically alters the playing field, well after the game has begun.
This last minute misuse of emergency procedures speaks volumes about the flawed nature of the original legislation. It makes a mockery of the legislative process and is grossly unfair to Members who offered amendments based on your previous announcement. Since it is apparent that the only way this measure will pass is to blatantly manipulate and undermine the integrity of the legislative process, we are calling upon you to postpone today's meeting until we can agree upon a fair process for all Members.
Sincerely,
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Louise M. Slaughter, NY James P. McGovern, MA
Ranking Member
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Alcee L. Hastings, FL Jared Polis, CO
