In a fresh assault on cherished congressional practices, a Republican lawmaker is challenging another of the longstanding House customs.
This time the target is an obscure parliamentary procedure called the discharge petition. And he's getting help from talk shows and Texas billionaire Ross Perot.Through the discharge petition, legislation can be forced out of a committee and brought to the House floor for a vote over the objection of the panel's chairman and its members.
But Rep. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a conservative elected in 1986, argues that House leaders have thwarted the discharge petition's effectiveness because lawmakers who refuse to sign such a petition need not have their identity disclosed.
The secrecy provision allows lawmakers who "publicly claim support for a bill . . . all the while, privately work for its defeat," complains Inhofe.
Inhofe has waged his campaign against the secrecy provision on more than 30 call-in programs and gained the editorial support this week of The Wall Street Journal, which ran a list of lawmakers who have opposed his efforts.
Perot urged C-Span viewers Thursday to write members of Congress to support Inhofe and "get rid of the gag rule" surrounding the discharge petition.
The attack on the discharge petition is only the latest challenge to longstanding House practices by newer members, mostly Republicans.
Earlier challenges forced the House to close its bank after a check overdraft scandal; reform its post office because of embezzlement and criminal conspiracies; collect long overdue House restaurant bills; raise fees for use of the members' gym; and eliminate four committees that had no legislative authority.
The secrecy clause has been in effect since 1934.