Five-day rule broken again
President Obama broke his pledge to not raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year by “a single dime” when he signed the SCHIP expansion. He also broke his own five-day rule — that promise he made to post legislation online for five days for public comment before signing.
From Politico:
Obama’s 5 p.m. signing came barely three hours after the House approved the bill, breaching Obama’s promise to have a five-day period of “sunlight before signing,” as he detailed on the campaign trail and on his website.
In September 2008, Obama told a crowd in Green Bay, WI:
When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it.
His campaign Web site said:
Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
And the White House’s new blog opened with this:
One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.
This isn’t the first time the president broke the promise. His first bill signing, of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, took place the day after the bill passed.
Sources:
Politico, Feb. 5, 2009
Washington Post, Sept. 22, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama Speaks at Campaign Event in Green Bay, Wisconsin
BarackObama.com
White House Blog, Jan. 20, 2009
