WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today joined in introducing a resolution that would change Senate rules to require that all legislation – along with a complete cost analysis – be made available to the public for 72 hours prior to being voted on.

“We ended the fiscal year last week with a $1.6 trillion deficit, which marked the first time our nation had an annual deficit above one trillion dollars.  Americans are tired of record deficits and continued overspending by the federal government, and they are tired of thousand-page bills that are voted on after being made public just hours beforehand.  This is no way to run a government, nor is it any way to spend taxpayers’ money.

“As the Senate moves toward considering a massive, trillion-dollar health care bill that will affect the lives of every single American, now is the time to implement this reform and to provide the transparency the American public deserves.”

The resolution, authored by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., would cover any bill, resolution, or conference report being considered by any committee or on the Senate floor.  It would require legislative language to be placed online, along with an official cost analysis completed by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. 

A Rasmussen poll released last week showed that 83 percent of Americans believe that legislation should be posted online with sufficient time for review by members of Congress and the public before a final vote. 

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