Can Congress Govern Itself?

Today's Downsizer-Dispatch . . .

Quotes of the Day:

"But he can't even run his own life, I'll be damned if he runs mine!"
- Jonathan Edwards, "Sunshine (Go Away Today)"

"Did you read this bill?"
- House Minority Leader John Boehner, on the Farm Bill.

Subject: Can Congress Govern Itself?

If members of Congress can't even govern themselves, how can they govern the country?

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a vocal supporter of 2002's "Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act" may have broken the law when she appeared with Newt Gingrich in an Al Gore-sponsored ad about global warming. Because the ad ran in her district, it broke the law because candidates are not allowed to coordinate with independent groups. It makes one wonder if Rep. Pelosi ever read the campaign finance bill.

• On August 2, 2007, the House considered a motion to deny some benefits to illegal immigrants. Everyone knew the vote would be close, and Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer admits to pressuring the Speaker pro tem, Mike McNulty, to close the vote once it appeared the Demcorats were ahead. McNulty called the vote defeated at 214-214, when the actual tally was 215-213 in favor. He then allowed extra time for some members change their votes, and it ended up losing 212-216. Two weeks ago, hearings were held on the incident, with no resolution.

• Last week, Congress sent the President a 1,768-page, pork-filled farm bill with a 34-page section missing. The House overrode Bush's veto, but now it will have to introduce the missing section as a separate bill.

First, they sneak some things into bills on purpose.

Then, they pull things out of bills by accident.

But it is YOUR life that is affected by THEIR mistakes. Members of Congress break the laws they pass, violate their own voting rules, and can't even keep track of bills they actually pass. Congress can't even run Congress. When they try to run our lives as well, taxes and prices increase while our freedoms disappear.

Congress would accomplish more by doing less. The fewer "solutions" they impose, the more freedom we'll have to run our lives as we see fit. And if Congress governed itself better, the people would trust it more.

Downsize DC's Read the Bills Act (RTBA) will help Congress do a better job.

• By requiring bills to be read before a quorum in Congress, the legislative process will slow down. Urgent, national priorities will be addressed, but Congress won't have time for pet projects and pork.

• The final amended bill passed by both the House and Senate would be the bill the President signs or vetoes. It would also be the same version posted on the Internet for seven days before Congress votes. If pages are missing from a bill, it would be caught before passage, not after.

Tell Congress it needs to accomplish more by attempting less. Tell them the people would be better off with fewer laws and subsidies, and that the Read the Bills Act is a good way to accomplish this. Use one or more of the examples above in your personal comments. You can send your message here.

We also invite you to join the Read the Bills Act Coalition, where you help spread the word about the RTBA. In return we'll link to your site on our blog and announce it to over 23,000 subscribers in a future issue of the Downsizer-Dispatch. Instructions for joining the coalition are here.

This week, we welcome one new member to the Coalition:

ACME Web Pages

Finally, in the last two weeks the House passed 41 bills totaling 2021 pages, and the Senate passed 15 bills totaling 1234 pages. A list of these bills can be found in the blog version of this Dispatch.

Thank-you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org