November

23, 2011 The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Harry Reid The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Patty Murray The Honorable Jeb Hensarling Dear Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader Pelosi, Minority Leader McConnell, Senator Murray and Representative Hensarling: Since August, we the undersigned, as well as a number of Members of Congress themselves, urged the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to operate in an open and transparent manner. Our recommendations -- which included open meetings and real-time lobbying and campaign finance disclosure -- were ignored. Members of the Joint Select Committee argued for the cover of secrecy to create honest dialogue and compromise, but the result was a fractious process that kept everyone but powerful special interests out of the decision-making process. The public was kept entirely in the dark. The failure of the Super Committee began with the erroneous assumption at its inception: that it was better for Members of Congress to operate behind closed doors, leaving Americans in the dark. This negative precedent set by the Super Committee for operating in secret and behind closed doors -- with no transparency around campaign contributions or lobbying, despite the demands from many organizations -- must not be repeated. We, the undersigned, represent a broad coalition of interests, ideology and expertise. Moving forward, we invite you to use us as a resource to help ensure that congressional procedures for consideration of all legislation are transparent and invite the participation of all Americans. The assumptions about secrecy and compromise that led to the creation of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction have been repudiated, and this process should never be repeated again. Transparency is the foundation of Congresss legitimacy, not a barrier to its work. Sincerely, Center for Responsive Politics Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending Common Cause Demand Progress MapLight National Priorities Project

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