Heller presses call for “super committee” open debate

Sen. Dean Heller is pressing the call for the deficit reduction "super committee" to conduct its work in public, part of a chorus that includes some congressional leaders and "good government" watchdogs.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi named three members on Thursday, filling out the 12-person panel that will get to work to come up with a trillion-dollar deficit plan by Thanksgiving.

With the committee complete, Heller, R-Nev., and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., sent letters to each of the panelists.

"We ask you...to ensure that all meetings and hearings are done in a transparent manner through advance public notification, public attendance and live television broadcasts," they said.

"All Americans should have the ability to see how the committee crafts a concrete plan for our fiscal future," they said.

Heller and Buchanan have introduced legislation to require all proceedings of the committee to be held in public. Last week, four Republican senators -- Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John Boozman of Arkansas, Mike Lee of Utah and David Vitter of Louisiana -- signed a letter with Heller asking the same of Senate leaders Harry Reid of Nevada and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"So often, high-stakes negotiations like these are conducted in private, where members feel free from accountability, and, to a lesser extent, from special interest influence," blogger Brian Beutler writes for TPM.com. "And because the debt ceiling statute that created the panel included no significant transparency requirements, the expectation has been that it will operate away from public scrutiny."

Reid will defer to the committee leaders on how they will operate, a spokesman told Beutler. A McConnell spokesman did not respond.

Pelosi repeated her call for deliberations to be "transparent; the committee should conduct its proceedings in the open." And some open government advocates say they are heartened that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has spoken generally in favor of an open process.

"Momentum is indeed on our side in the push for open meetings," writes John Wonderlich, policy director for the Sunlight Foundation.

"Even if we win in the push for open meetings for the "super committee" (and it's shocking that we still don't know whether this body will even meet in public), that's far from enough to guarantee a reasonable process," Wonderlich writes. "We're also demanding ... lobbying disclosure, campaign finance disclosure, 72 hours for the committee's recommendations, and financial disclosures online for members and staff."

Those ideas were detailed in a letter sent to House and Senate leaders on Monday by a coalition of 16 organizations that includes the Society of Professional Journalists, the Project on Government Oversight, the Center for Responsive Politics and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.