James Wilson
Subject: Senate underscores need for RTBA and OSTA
Last week, the Senate passed two bills. Well, actually, they passed more bills than that, but they were combined into two.
H.R. 3221, was originally titled "New Direction For Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act" and passed the House last summer. The Senate didn't consider this bill at the time, but did pass, along with the House, the very similar "Energy Independence and Security Act" (H.R. 6) which was signed into law. But over the past two weeks the Senate dug H.R. 3221 from the committee graveyard, and "amended" it by replacing the entire text and turning it into the 157-page "Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008."
The final vote was taken after several dozens of amendments were considered over the previous week. After it was passed on April 10, it took the Government Printing Office seven days to put the new H.R. 3221 on-line. At the time of this writing, the Library of Congress still hasn't posted a summary of the new version.
Is it acceptable that the people don't know the contents of a bill until a week or more after it has passed? Shouldn't we instead get a chance to read bills a week before they're voted on, to give Congress our feedback? We don't believe a bill on an issue so vital to the American people as the foreclosure crisis should be rushed through without the public having a chance to review it. That's one reason DownsizeDC.org has proposed the Read the Bills Act.
And that is also why we are asking you to tell Congress about the delay in getting H.R. 3221 posted on the Internet. Tell them final versions of bills should be posted a week before they're voted on, not a week after. Tell them the public should have a chance to make their views known. And tell them to pass the Read the Bills Act. You can do so here.
To increase pressure on Congress to pass the RTBA, please consider joining the Read the Bills act Coalition. By joining the Coalition, your website or blog will help spread the word about the Read the Bills Act. In return, your site will be listed at the DownsizeDC.org blog and be announced in a Downsizer-Dispatch. Details are here.
This week we welcome three new members:
Proud Political Junkie's Gazette
The other bill the Senate passed was the 322-page S. 2739, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act. It, too, was passed hastily on April 10. S. 2739 funds various programs such as the Forest Service and the National Park Service. It also authorizes a federal takeover of immigration policy for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
What does immigration in the commonwealth have to do with "natural resources?" I would think that the people of the Islands, who have no representation in Congress, deserve at least separate consideration of this issue, which is vital to their economy. And Americans on the mainland deserve legislation on natural resources to be considered on their own. Bundling unrelated subjects together in one bill allows Congress to duck responsibility. Their support for good sections in bills gives them permission to pass the bad as well. This makes a joke of representative government, and is one reason DownsizeDC.org has introduced the One Subject at a Time Act.
Please tell Congress you object to combining different subjects in a bill. Tell them you don't understand what immigration in the Northern Mariana Islands has to do with natural resources. Tell them the people deserve to know where each member of Congress stands on both issues. And tell them to pass the One Subject at a Time Act. You can do so here.
To learn more about the bills Congress passed last week, scroll past my signature in the blog version of this Dispatch.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org
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