April 9, 2009 6:31PM # A Flagging Obama Transparency Effort By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE President Obama made some very firm commitments about transparency as a campaigner. Among other things, he promised to post bills online for five days before he signs them. This promise has been fulfilled just once — and in that case, only arguably. The Obama campaign Web site promised “[Sunlight Before Signing:](http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/)” > 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.” To a roar of approval, [President Obama pledged](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5t8GdxFYBU) on the campaign trail: “\[W\]hen there is a bill that ends up on my desk as a president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government’s doing.” Here’s a look at the White House’s uneven efforts to fulfill that promise: Of the eleven bills President Obama has signed, only six have been posted on White​house​.gov. None have been posted for a full five days after presentment from Congress. One bill, the [DTV Delay Act](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-4.html), was posted after it was cleared for presentment by Congress February 4th, with the President signing it February 11th. This arguably satisfies the five-day promise, though presentment — a constitutional step in the legislative process — would be a better time to start the five-day clock. (Congress presented it February 9th.) Several times the White House has posted a bill while it remains in Congress, attempting to satisfy the five-day rule. But this doesn’t give the public an opportunity to review the final legislation — especially any last minute amendments. Versions of the [children’s health insurance legislation](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-3.html), the [omnibus spending bill](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-8.html), and the [omnibus public land management bill](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-11.html) were linked to from White​house​.gov while making their ways through Congress, but not posted in final form. (The [page linking to the omnibus spending bill](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FY2009OmnibusAppropriationsActPublicReview/) was not highlighted in the White House blog or anywhere else on White​house​.gov I could find. The only evidence I found of *when* it was posted comes from [Web commentary](http://www.brainwaveweb.com/forum/showthread.php?p=106633#post106633).) Is five days too much to ask? The President did allow for an emergency exception, and it would not be appropriate to hold off signing a bill if life and health were immediately threatened. The President signed a couple of bills with deadlines pressing. These were the [continuing resolution](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-6.html), the [omnibus spending bill](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-8.html), and the extensions of [immigration](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-9.html) and [small business programs](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-10.html). Congress produced the crush, though, with its timing in passing the bills; the deadlines were not a product of extrinsic forces or emergencies. (A firmly enforced five-day rule would cause Congress to pass bills five days earlier when programs were expiring — after much tribulation about who is responsible when a program lapses for failure to timely reauthorize it, of course.) Despite the economic conditions, the [Recovery Act](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-5.html) was not treated as emergency legislation by Congress or the President. Congress waited three days after its Friday passage to present it to the President, and he enjoyed a weekend visit to Chicago before signing the bill four days after it passed (one day after presentment) in Denver. The President has signed most bills within a day or two of their presentment from Congress, violating his campaign promise. He has signed [two](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-7.html) [bills](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-12.html) more than five days after presentment, but — ironically, because it preserves the broken promise — not posted them on White​house​.gov. | Public Law | Date Presented | Date Signed | Posted (Linked) for Comment? | Five Days? | |---|---|---|---|---| | [P.L. 111–2, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-2.html) | 1/28/2009 | 1/29/2009 | [1/29/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/LillyLedbetterFairPayActPublicReview/) | No | | [P.L. 111–3, The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-3.html) | 2/4/2009 | 2/4/2009 | [2/1/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/SCHIP_Public_Review/) | No | | [P.L. 111–4, The DTV Delay Act](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-4.html) | 2/9/2009 | 2/11/2009 | [2/5/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/dtv_delay_act/) | Yes and No | | [P.L. 111–5, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-5.html) | 2/16/2009 | 2/17/2009 | [2/13/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/arra_public_review/) | No | | [P.L. 111–6, Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2009, and for other purposes](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-6.html) | 3/6/2009 | 3/6/2009 | No | n/​a | | [P.L. 111–7, A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2105 East Cook Street in Springfield, Illinois, as the “Colonel John H. Wilson, Jr. Post Office Building”](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-7.html) | 2/26/09 | 3/9/2009 | No | n/​a | | [P.L. 111–8, The Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-8.html) | 3/11/2009 | 3/11/2009 | [3/6/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FY2009OmnibusAppropriationsActPublicReview/) | No | | [P.L. 111–9, To extend certain immigration programs](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-9.html) | 3/18/2009 | 3/20/2009 | No | n/​a | | [P.L. 111–10, To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-10.html) | 3/19/2009 | 3/20/2009 | No | n/​a | | [P.L. 111–11, The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-11.html) | 3/30/2009 | 3/30/2009 | [3/30/2009](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/OmnibusPublicLandManagementAct/) | No | | [P.L. 111–12, The Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2009](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-12.html) | 3/24/2009 | 3/30/2009 | No | n/​a | ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).