Have House-Senate Conferences Gone the Way of the Dodo?

• By Don Wolfensberger
• Roll Call Contributing Writer
• April 28, 2008, Midnight

In June 2006, House and Senate Democratic leaders rolled out their “New Direction for America,” a campaign platform to take back control of Congress. The “Honest Leadership and Open Government” reform plank, at Page 22, included the promise to require that “all [House-Senate] conference committee meetings be open to the public and that members of the conference committee have a public opportunity to vote on all amendments [in disagreement between the two houses].” Moreover, copies of conference reports would be posted “on the Internet 24 hours before consideration (unless waived by a supermajority vote).”