North East’s Representative Glenn Thompson Votes in Favor of Massive Spending Bill

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, widely referred to as the omnibus spending bill just passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 316 to 113. Our representative Glenn Thompson voted in favor of the bill.

The vote passed with a majority of the votes 166, coming from Democrats while 150 were from Republicans. Voting against the bill were 95 Republicans, including Erie County Representative Mike Kelly and 18 Democrats.

UPDATE: The bill has now passed the Senate by a vote of 65 to 33, again the majority of yes votes were Democrats at 37, while 27 Republicans and 1 Independent voted for passage. PA Republican Senator Pat Toomey voted no, Democrat Senator Bob Casey voted yes.

The President has signed the bill.

Everyone has the right to know what their government is doing.
Transparency is expected in all government meetings and daily operations.
Everyone working in the government works for, and is answerable to, you and me.
All laws, regulations, ordinances, budgets, audits and other public records should be freely available, preferably online, for citizens to examine without special fees and paperwork before they can do so.
When municipalities seek bids for contract work, all bid documents should be available online, free of charge. Printed copies, if requested, should be offered at cost.
Agendas should be posted online a minimum of 3 days before public meetings take place allowing interested citizens an opportunity to hear discussions and offer input on matters important to them.