Sen. Mark Kelly is introducing a bill to require members of Congress to publish their official schedule online: 'It's the right thing to do'
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
- Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona will introduce a bill requiring lawmakers to post their schedules online.
- "Folks that elect us office have a right to know what we're doing while we're here," Kelly told Insider.
- Kelly, who's also pushing bills to ban congressional stock trading and corporate PACs, calls it the "Kelly standard."
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would require all members of Congress to publish their official schedules online, Insider has learned.
Kelly, one of a relatively smaller number of senators that posts his official schedule online already, says the effort is about allowing constituents and the public alike to know what their elected officials are doing on taxpayers' time.
"Folks that elect us office have a right to know what we're doing while we're here," Kelly told Insider at the Capitol on Monday evening. "It's about, you know, transparency."
The "Transparency in Congress Resolution of 2022," which he's co-sponsoring with Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, would require to members to disclose all in-person and virtual meetings, hearings, and events attended in an official capacity on a monthly basis; Tester also publishes his schedule online. Members would also be required to include information about the attendees and subject of the meetings, and must include votes they've taken on the schedule as well.
"You can demonstrate that you're not meeting with special interests," said Kelly. "And the public knows what you're doing while you're here."
The legislation does allow certain carve-outs for sensitive matters: members are not required to disclose meetings when doing so would implicate privacy, law enforcement, national security, classified information, or other safety concerns.
Screenshot / Sen. Kelly Official Website
The Arizona Democrat, who faces re-election this year and is among the most vulnerable Senate incumbents, hopes to encourage other lawmakers to adopt what his office is calling the "Kelly Standard:" placing all assets into a qualified blind trust, posting official schedules online, and refusing corporate PAC donations.
"I think I'm the only person in this building that does all three of those," said Kelly. "Members shouldn't be enriching themselves because of their service in the United States Congress, the public should know what we're doing while we're here, and we shouldn't be influenced by money from special interest groups."
Asked about the political upside of promoting ethics in Washington, Kelly brushed off the question. "I think if you were to explain this to folks, they would care about it, and they would recognize why this is important," he said. "But that's not the reason to do it. I mean, the reason to do it is it's the right thing to do."
Kelly is the co-sponsor of one of the leading bills to ban lawmakers from trading stocks, and has also introduced legislation with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia to ban corporate PACs entirely.
Ossoff and Kelly both have both pledged not to accept donations from corporate PACs — political accounts established by corporations to influence policymaking and campaigns — and are among just 10 members of Congress that have placed their assets into a blind trust.
The introduction of Kelly's legislation comes amid heightened scrutiny of congressional ethics. After Insider's "Conflicted Congress" investigation revealed that dozens of lawmakers and nearly 200 senior congressional staffers have failed to disclose stock trades and other financial information in a timely manner, momentum is building to ban lawmakers from trading stocks entirely. Recent polling has shown that the idea is highly popular with the American electorate, and one of Kelly's Republican opponents, Blake Masters, has called for a stock trading ban as well.
And recent media reports have examined how members of Congress are using their time. In the House, which uses proxy-voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous lawmakers have been using the procedure to travel with President Joe Biden, attend conferences, and hold events during votes.
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