But that is child's play compared to what Congress did this week. They cobbled together H.R. 2764, a $550 billion budget bill that funds the war in Iraq and most federal departments for the 2008 Fiscal Year. The version posted at thomas.loc.gov is 1,443 pages, but that doesn't include another 2,000 pages of earmarks and other reports. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday night, and the House passed it Wednesday. This bill includes $14 billion in "earmarked" pork-barrel spending, and over $17 billion in so-called "emergency" spending that goes over the budget limit.

Congress had all year to pass shorter, separate spending bills for each department. And, truth be known, they still had all the time in the world. Congress was already overdue on the 2008 budget bills, because the government's fiscal year started in October. But the government kept running because Congress had authorized a temporary extension of spending at 2007 levels. Congress could have bought more time by passing another extension, but they were in a rush to get the spending bills done before Christmas vacation.

Perhaps we've all been guilty, at one time or another, of doing shoddy work in our rush to put projects behind us and get on with our vacations. But most of us don't earn six-figure salaries stewarding trillions of dollars of the people's money. Congress knows the people don't like pork. Congress knows that the "emergency" spending is fraudulent. Congress knows from prior experience that bad provisions sneak into large bills at the last minute. But Congress didn't give themselves, or the people, time to consider H.R. 2764 before passing it.

Bills like H.R. 2764 underscore the need for the Read the Bills Act. If for no other reason, the Read the Bills Act would have given the people and members of Congress a full week to read and consider the final, amended bill before passing it. If a member of Congress responds to your request to pass the RTBA by saying that "most" bills are carefully evaluated and considered before they're passed, tell them to explain H.R. 2764.

To find out more about the Read the Bills Act, click here.

And to tell Congress to stop passing bills like H.R. 2764 and to pass the Read the Bills Act instead, click here.

Also, please tell your friends about the Read the Bills Act, and consider joining the Read the Bills Act Coalition. The RTBA Coalition is an opportunity for you to direct readers of your blog or website to our Read the Bills Act page, and in return we will add you to our blogroll and announce your site in a Downsizer-Dispatch to 20,000 subscribers. To join, click here.

We should also point out that H.R. 2764 is entitled "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008." But in four minutes of examination, we already found four provisions that impose law or make policy, but do not spend money or place restrictions on spending. We wonder how many more non-germane provisions we will find when we really have time to sit down and look at the bill. Downsize DC's "One Subject At a Time Act" would prevent such provisions from hiding within an unrelated bill, and like the RTBA, will force greater openness and honesty in the legislative process. To read the One Subject At A Time Act and tell Congress to pass it, click here.

Next week we'll have more on H.R. 2764, and answer the question of whether anyone had time to read the bill.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson

Assistant to the President

DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

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