DC Downsizers Are Heroic, Part 2

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/dc-downsizers-are-heroic-part-

Quote of the Day: "Rome wasn't built in a day." -- Anonymous

In this message, the latest news about . . .

* Rand Paul
* BJ Lawson
* The Williamsport Tea Party,
* And how all three are moving our Downsize DC Agenda to the next level.

When we first introduced the Read the Bills Act no one in power had any interest. Your efforts changed that. As I explained in Part 1 of of "DC Downsizers Are Heroic," back in February . . .

* You funded me to speak to a packed room of conservative leaders in Washington, DC
* One person in attendance used his vast resources to turn a diluted version of "Read the Bills" into a centerpiece of the healthcare debate
* And another attendee caused the House Republican Study Committee to use "Read the Bills" to fight the stimulus bill, plus . . .
* A diluted version of "Read the Bills" (H.Res.554) now has 218 total sponsors (a majority), but is being kept from a vote by Nancy Pelosi, so . . .
* One of the co-sponsors started a discharge petition. It now has 182 signers!. When it has a majority, it must come to a vote, no matter what Ms. Pelosi prefers.

Our ideas have also spread into the wider public. For instance, Tea Party gatherings almost always feature "Read the Bills" signs. And progress has continued on Capitol Hill since I wrote the first version of this report in February. For example . . .

Republican leader John Boehner has pledged to make passage of the diluted "Read the Bills" his "highest priority," if his party becomes the majority, and he becomes Speaker.

Yes, this "Read the Bills" rule is not as strong as our proposal, BUT, we have always said that this will be the first step on the path to victory, for every proposal we make. Opportunistic politicians will always try to steal the idea and pass a diluted version first. This is a sign that we're well on our way, and yet . . .

A blogger wrote last week that Read the Bills was, "a somewhat dated proposal that had much promise." This is like saying the Constitution is dated and past it's promise simply because Congress has ignored it for the last 100 years.

This blogger also suggested that we "retire" and "shutter" the DownsizeDC.org website, because we haven't gained "a whole lot of traction," but in fact, we're getting exactly the traction we expected to get. The stages of progress are as follows . . .

1) Incumbent politicians try to get by with diluted versions of our ideas. This is happening!
2) Challengers pledge to sponsor the pure DownsizeDC.org bill. This is happening! Twelve have done this so far, and we've been contacted by eight other campaigns.
3) Other grassroots groups take up the cause and begin to add to the pressure. This is happening! See below.
4) Viable candidates pledge to sponsor and even promote the pure DownsizeDC.org bill. This is happening too! See below.

GRASSROOTS GROUP TAKES UP THE CAUSE

The Williamsport Tea Party (a.k.a., the Susquehanna Valley Regional Tea Party) isn't your average Tea Party group. They weren't formed as a GOP front. They're a real grassroots organization. And even though they're hours away from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, they still attracted more than 4,000 people to the rally I spoke at in 2009. They also packed three buses for the 9/12 rally last year.

This group has issued a candidate's questionnaire. It has only four questions, and look what those questions cover . . .

1) The Enumerated Powers Act
2) The One Subject at a Time Act
3) The Write the Laws Act
4) The Read the Bills Act

I wrote about this group and published their candidate survey for the DownsizeDC.org blog yesterday.

RAND PAUL

This U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky has pledged TO YOU, both on YouTube, and on the radio with me last month, that he will introduce all of our bills, as well as co-sponsor the Enumerated Powers Act, the Free Competition in Currency Act, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (which cuts Congressional pay if Congress runs a deficit).

Two recent polls show Paul leading in his race by 15 points!

B.J. LAWSON

This House candidate for the North Carolina's 4th District has made the same commitment as Paul. But his story is even more amazing. His campaign shouldn't be viable, but it is! The experts believe he should be losing by 20 points, because the district is heavily Democratic. But he's just picked up a bunch of endorsements, and . . .

A new poll suggests that he is TIED in a race against a 22-year incumbent (46.5 Lawson, 46.1 Price).

Lawson is a physician, an engineer, and a successful business owner who has distributed more than 50,000 copies of the Constitution. He's a long-time DC Downsizer. He has been the most articulate candidate on behalf of our Agenda, and keeps in direct contact with me.

Both of these campaigns still have battles ahead of them, because they expect to be outspent, but things are looking good. So what do you think? Are we losing traction? I don't think so. I think we're gaining traction. Yes, there are areas where we need to do better, like membership growth and money, but we're working on those problems, and expect to succeed.

Meanwhile, let's do more in the areas where we have the most traction. For instance . . .

Let's get a majority on the discharge petition for the "Read the Bills" rule, H.Res.554. Here's what we need you to do . . .

Please send your Representative a letter instructing him or her to sign the Discharge petition if you do NOT find his or her name on this list: http://clerk.house.gov/111/lrc/pd/Petitions/Dis6.htm

You can send your letter using this campaign: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/118/background

- OR -

Please send a letter demanding a hearing for the 72-hour rule (the name for the diluted "Read the Bills" proposal) IF your Representative serves on the Rules Committee (Louise Slaughter, Chair). You can find the roster for the Rules Committee here: http://rules.house.gov/rules_members.htm

Again, you can send your letter using this campaign: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/118/background

Please note that your letters will be copied to your Senators so they too can see how much support there is for "reading the bills."

My representative is not on the Rules Committee, so I can't ask her to work for a hearing. But she has not signed the discharge petition, and so, I appealed to her self-interest, using DownsizeDC.org's Educate the Powerful System . . .

I see you have not joined 182 of your colleagues in signing the Discharge Petition for this rule. The failure to legislate responsibly is a major reason why your party stands to lose huge numbers of seats in November. Please show me that you are prepared to govern differently in the future. Sign this discharge petition.

END OF LETTER

But please don't stop there.

1. Pass this Dispatch to others (we advise you trim off the footer so no one uses the links there to unsubscribe you by accident) and ask them to do the action items.
2. Post the core of this Dispatch on your blog, if you have one.
3. If you don't have a blog, show this to a prominent blogger or radio host.
4. Share this PROGRESS via Twitter and Facebook with this link: http://tinyurl.com/32clcp3

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer,

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Is the "Read the Bills Act" Practical?

Today's Downsizer-Dispatch . . .

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"You are at work, and someone hands you a draft report you are required to sign your name to and pass up the chain of command. What happens to you if you sign it and hand it to the next guy, but after it is implemented you find out that it has obvious errors, or worse includes payment of company funds to someone who has done nothing to deserve it? I'm guessing you get fired and have to think about how to phrase the departure on your resume."
-- Anthony, "the view from my windscreen"

SUBJECT: Is the "Read the Bills Act" Practical?

As we noted in our June 5 Dispatch, the "Climate Security Act" was actually read in the Senate chamber -- 500+ pages in ten hours. Also, on one April day, the Florida House of Representatives had 398 pages pages of legislation read aloud.

Both times, the minority party insisted the bills be read as a form of protest. But there's something revealing here about the practicality of the "Read the Bills Act" (RTBA).

Imagine if RTBA was in force, and stipulate the following . . .

• It normally takes one hour to read a forty-page bill.
• Each member of Congress has a copy of the bill, a high-lighter, a pen, and a notebook to jot down their questions and objections.
• And let's also grant four hours for debate and votes on amendments for every one hour of reading. That's five hours to finalize a forty-page bill.

This would leave plenty of time for meetings, final votes on bills from the previous week, and other business. That evening, Congressional clerks could post the bill on the Internet. Interested citizens could read it and contact their representatives with feedback. Seven days later, Congress could vote.

Assuming Congress meets for 200 days a year, the above scenario would allow them to pass 8,000 pages of legislation quite easily.

Keep in mind, we at Downsize DC don't want Congress to pass this much legislation. But, contrary to what some in Congress claim, they could still pass a lot of laws under the "Read the Bills Act." Indeed, the changes to the process would be all for the better . . .

• There would be increased pressure on Congressional committees to write short, understandable bills. For instance, large Cabinet Departments wouldn't need to be funded in one bill; separate agencies could be funded in separate bills
• Many bills are uncontroversial and wouldn't need much debate; even so, reading them aloud would allow Congress to spot errors
• Peer pressure would limit the addition of amendments on unrelated subjects
• Members of Congress (and the public) would have the chance to expose and remove wasteful and unwanted earmarks
• And the same could be done with other hidden, dangerous, and harmful provisions
• Urgent, high-priority bills would come first

Please tell your Representative and Senators to introduce the Read the Bills Act.

In your personal comments, tell them that the RTBA gives Congress plenty of time to pass needed legislation -- perhaps as much as 8,000 pages a year, plus the bills would be simpler, cleaner, and better than they are now. You send your message here.

In addition, we invite you to help spread the word about RTBA by joining the "Read the Bills Act Coalition." You help spread the word about the RTBA, and we'll spread the word about you, linking to your site on our blog. Details are here.

This week, we welcome four new members to the Coalition.

Intellectual Splatter
Debt Sucks
Call of God
Spotlight Radio

Over the past two weeks the House passed 35 bills totaling 503 pages, and the Senate passed 7 bills amounting to 1863 pages. A list of their bills, and their length, can be found in the blog version of this Dispatch.

NOTE: You can remove this funding section if you forward this message to others, or post it on your blog. You can also comment on this message at our blog.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org

Latest at Downsize DC

I have a Dispatch on what the Senate did last week, and check out our campaign against ethanol subsidies.

We Support the President and Congress (?)(!)

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2008/mar/17/we_support_the_president_and_congress

Today's Downsizer-Dispatch . . .

President Bush and both houses of Congress have each proposed 5-year budget blue-prints. They are based on wildly optimistic economic projections, and revenues will probably not be as high as they expect. The plans also don't include funding for the War in Iraq after 2009. We would be delighted if this means we've pulled out of Iraq by then, but that likely won't happen. Today, however, we won't be overly-critical, because these plans would reduce the federal government's spending and debt relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We must encourage Congress and the President to continue in this direction.

Non-defense discretionary spending is one place each plan foresees some fiscal discipline. Currently, this part of the budget consumes 3.7% of GDP. President Bush projects it will fall to 2.8% by 2013 through a four-year spending freeze. While it probably won't fall that low, we agree that freezing spending is the next best thing to cutting it. Bush's plan is preferable to House and Senate plans that would increase spending slightly. Nevertheless, their increases fall well below the inflation rate, and they expect non-defense discretionary spending to fall to 3.2 or 3.1% of GDP. Source: Concord Coalition

This discretionary non-defense spending includes virtually all (non-military) pork-barrel projects. It includes almost all of the cost of enforcing countless laws that infringe on our freedoms, hurt the economy, increase social turmoil, and violate the Constitution. The less that is spent here, the better. The less spent on pork, the more confidence the people will have in Congress. The less spent on top-down federal programs, the quicker we can restore the American Experiment of self-government in the states and local communities. The less spent on regulatory enforcement, the less mom-and-pop business owners and entrepreneurs will worry about Big Brother bureaucrats breathing down their neck.

Overall, we applaud the intentions of Congress and the President to curtail the growth of wasteful and counterproductive spending. And we applaud their goals of reducing the burden of Big Government and securing budget surpluses.

And DownsizeDC.org has just the weapon to help Congress and the President achieve their goals. It is called the Read the Bills Act (RTBA).

The RTBA will require members of Congress who support a particular bill to read it first. Because there are so many proposed bills - thousands per year - the RTBA will force Congressional committees and Congressional leadership to focus on the most urgent bills - and force these bills to be easy to understand. This means they will have to be as short as possible, and as simple as possible.

This will make it virtually impossible for members of Congress to sneak in new laws and pork-barrel spending to bills. Congress will simply have no time to grant every spending request or add new, counter-productive laws. It simply won't have the time to make government bigger and more complex.

So let's support Congress and the President for a change. Tell them we applaud their plans for smaller government, as indicated in their budget proposals. And tell them the best way to achieve their goals is through the Read the Bills Act.

In addition to sending your message, please consider joining the Read the Bills Act Coalition. By joining the Coalition, you will point visitors of your website to the RTBA, and we will in turn mention you in a Downsizer-Dispatch and list you at our blog. More information is here.

Today we welcome three new members to the Coalition:

Politically Spastic

The Liberty Marketplace

Paul Congress

Lastly, we keep a record of the number of bills, and pages of legislation, Congress passes each week. For the latest information, scroll to below my signature in the home blog version of this Dispatch.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org

The $150 Billion Fraud

There are many reasons to downsize DC. A big one, quite simply, is that Big Government hurts the economy:

• Most government regulations do not achieve their intended purpose of protecting workers and consumers, but only create unemployment and higher prices.

• Deficit spending causes monetary inflation, and worker's wages do not keep pace with higher prices.

• Complicated tax laws are grossly inefficient, draining the economy of hundreds of billions in filing costs.

• Income taxes make it harder for families to save, and for businesses to expand.

• Every dollar the government wastes is one dollar stolen from the private sector, from the people. For example,the cost of one military helicopter used in an unnecessary war is equivalent to that of 400 cars or 10,000 laptops.

Government is not capable of managing the economy. Its options are mis-managing the economy, or leaving it alone. This means that a real economic stimulus bill would reduce the government's role in the economy.

continue reading

Congressional Speed-Reading

This is the latest Dispatch I wrote at Downsize DC.

And if you haven't done so this week, I urge you to check out the campaigns at DDC and the blog.

Congressional Responses to the Read the Bills Act

From the latest Downsizer-Dispatch I wrote:

[B]y not reading and understanding bills in their entirety, they may end up with the opposite of what they intend. Consider a situation in Arkansas. The legislature tried to increase the marriage age to 18 with an exception for younger pregnant girls if they have parental consent. But the bill read "not pregnant" instead, allowing anyone under 18 - even infants - to get married with parental consent. A special session of the Arkansas Legislature may be called to fix the bill. Source: Yahoo.

Is this efficiency?

I Am Not Afraid

The terror threat is miniscule compared to our over-reaction to it. Find out more about DownsizeDC.org's new campaign here.

Also, check out my the recent Dispatch I wrote: 36 Bills in One Day.