The U.S. Senate wants to do what?!
The Associated Press has reported that Democrats and Republicans are planning secret "bipartisan caucuses" aimed at breaking Senate gridlock and speeding business.
These caucuses would expand the scope of reasons lawmakers could give to call "executive sessions" (a fancy of way of saying "secret meetings").
Whose horrible idea is this? According to the AP, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., deserves the credit. Reid's plans have been endorsed by his "Republican opposite," Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
The AP went on to report that rules governing these meetings haven't been finalized -- but that a Reid spokesman confirmed many of the meetings would be closed to the public.
The Senate does hold closed sessions periodically to discuss sensitive business -- such as impeachment deliberations (which don't come around every day), matters of national security and sensitive communications from the president. But such sessions are relatively uncommon.
Wish I could say I am stunned by this goofy proposal -- but NOTHING surprises where government secrecy is concerned. However, I suppose what does surprise me is the degree to which some people refuse to learn from history. Surely, I'm not the only one who remembers Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful attempts to reform national healthcare. She wanted to conduct much of that initiative in secret -- and look at where it got her.
If the U.S. Senate really wants to eradicate gridlock, there are plenty of other ways to start than by closing meetings. Why block the public from seeing the business conducted in its name? Why kick out the media? If anything, lawmakers need to become more transparent. They need to own up to their behind-the-scenes shenanigans, blatant partisanship and ties to special interests. They need to stop the grandstanding and parliamentary manuvers that stall debate -- and progress. A bi-partisan effort to help people to see more of what goes on, not less, might help weed out some of the Senate's chief contributors to "gridlock."
Secret meetings -- no matter how well-intentioned -- only will fuel suspicion that these lawmakers consider themselves above public accountability -- and that special interests, not the will of the people, dictate law and public policy.
We must reject this terrible idea. The American people deserve much better.