- Beto
for
America
« Executive
Order
Req. Cabinet Members to Hold
Monthly Town Hall Meetings
Beto for America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 1, 2019
Beto O'Rourke Announces He Would Sign Executive Order
Requiring Cabinet Members To Hold Monthly Public Town Hall
Meetings With the American People
Policy follows
more than a decade
of O'Rourke's transparency, accountability and commitment to making our
government more responsive to the people it's sworn to serve
WASHINGTON -- Beto O'Rourke announced today
that
he would sign an Executive Order requiring that every single member of
his Cabinet hold a monthly public town hall meeting with the
American
people. Speaking at the We the People Summit Monday afternoon, he
introduced the idea as a way to commit to historic levels of
transparency, accountability and engagement from the administration
while ensuring the genius of our democracy and the diversity of our
nation are reflected in the White House's Cabinet room and federal
departments across the government.
"At a time when we face an extraordinary concentration of power
and access, when our government does too little for too few, we must
ensure that the people of this country can hold their government to
account for the decisions it makes in their name," said
O'Rourke. "It
is only by listening to those we are sworn to serve and represent -- by
gaining the full benefit of their ideas, their experiences, their
creativity -- that we can come together to confront and overcome the
very real challenges before us."
Today's announcement follows more than a decade of O'Rourke's commitment to holding regular town halls and being accountable to his constituents. During his time on the El Paso City Council, he held weekly bilingual town hall meetings where he explained the votes he had taken the week before and previewed the agenda for the week ahead. After defeating a 16-year Congressional incumbent by personally knocking on 16,000 doors across El Paso, O'Rourke held monthly public town halls in his district in addition to quarterly veteran-focused town halls. He ultimately held 104 Congressional town halls -- each open to the public and a forum where anyone could ask any question on any topic. Campaigning for the U.S. Senate, O'Rourke visited all 254 counties of Texas and held more than 350 town halls.
While in Congress, O'Rourke also took action to return power to people. He authored the No PAC Act, introduced the Real Time Transparency Act, co-sponsored a resolution to undo Citizens United, co-sponsored the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017, co-sponsored the We the People Democracy Reform Act and co-sponsored the Get Foreign Money Out of Politics Act. He also swore of all PAC money during his re-election campaign to Congress, his race for the U.S. Senate and now his campaign for president.
###
For
press
inquiries,
Chris Evans
Press@BetoORourke.com