Make Congress Read the Bills They Pass
Feb 7th, 2007 by Brian A. Thomas
There is an effort to make Congress actually read the bills they pass. As it stands now, they seldom actually read anything, if even the summery. The Read the Bills Act would require:
* Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
* Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
* Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
* Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
* Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
* Congress cannot waive these requirements.
The net effect would be:
* Congress will have to slow down. This means the pace of government growth will also slow.
* Bills will shrink, be less complicated, and contain fewer subjects, so that Congress will be able to endure hearing them read.
* Fewer bad proposals will be passed due to “log-rolling.”
* No more secret clauses will be inserted into bills at the last moment.
* Government should shrink as old laws reach their sunset date, and have to be read for the first time before they can be renewed.
Get more details at the link above. See if your Confess people are on the sponsor list. I do not see our local representative on it, nor Ohio’s Senators. Guess some letter witting will be needed.
