Cantor, Hoyer spar on House transparency

Cantor added that the transportation bill, H.R. 7, was posted at noon yesterday, and that the House plans to vote on the bill a week from tomorrow.

“Given the process of all the committees and all the markups and the willingness to entertain amendments from both sides, and now, posting yesterday, Wednesday, when the vote is next Friday, I think that we are … living up to the commitment we made that we’re going to have a much more open process.”

{mosads}Hoyer said the 2010 healthcare law, which Republicans have criticized for being passed virtually unread, received far more public scrutiny than the pending transportation bill.

“I don’t know that anybody has had a town meeting or had the opportunity for the public to have input on this bill as it is now written,” Hoyer said.

But Cantor said public scrutiny over the healthcare bill was heightened because so many people hated that bill.

“The public doesn’t like that bill, all right? It doesn’t,” he said, before referencing another Democratic proposal that received little scrutiny before members voted on it.

“I’m thinking that perhaps the gentleman is confusing this bill with one that came up during his term as majority leader when the cap-and-trade bill was filed at 2 a.m., and then we were asked to vote on it at 10 o’clock the next morning.”

The transportation measure up next week, called the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, would fund federal transportation spending for five years, and anticipates that revenues from expanded oil and gas drilling would help pay for the spending. Democrats are known to oppose that language and are likely to favor a Senate Democratic proposal to pay for the bill by increasing taxes in a range of areas.

Hoyer said on the floor that the House GOP bill is widely seen as unpopular, including by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican member of the House.

“Unfortunately, we have a situation where you’re going to bring a bill up next week which clearly is a partisan bill which does not enjoy bipartisan support, contrary to every transportation bill that I think we’ve passed in this House in the 30 years I’ve been here,” Hoyer said.

Cantor defended the bill by saying it contains no earmarks, a change that Americans across the country support.

“We’re in a new day here. We’re shining the light of day, we’re saying no more earmarks,” he said. “We’re not doing things the way we used to do them, and that’s exactly what the people want.”