Quote of the Day: "Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." -- Dwight Eisenhower

Subject: Why the rush?

Congress first heard it from DC Downsizers. Then the media and other groups joined the call. Congress now knows that citizens want them to read their bills.

How has Congress reacted to the growing Read the Bills movement? Consider this . . .

* Three mark-ups of HR 2749, the "Food Safety" bill, were filed the morning of July 29 -- the last at 10:50am

* Between 10am and 2pm Congress passed 6 bills and one resolution totaling 67 pages

* HR 2749 was then brought before Congress at 2pm under a "suspension of the rules," meaning no amendments, limited debate, and a two-thirds majority to pass. It failed 280-150.

* Another version of HR 2749 was then filed the next day.

* That day, July 30, Congress passed 3 bills totaling 168 pages, and two resolutions, including H. Res. 691, which dispensed with a reading of HR 2749, limited debate to just one hour, and granted only one opportunity to amend the bill, or send it back to committee.

* This time HR 2729 only required a simple majority to pass, which it got, 283 to 142

Republican Rep. Joe Barton, a supporter of the "Food Safety" bill, insists that the late changes were made to address concerns about the impact on small farmers. It's a credit to the Downsize DC Army, and other opponents of the bill, that it's less bad than it could have been. But this still raises the question . . .

Why the rush?

* The Senate won't consider HR 2749 until after the August recess, so the House could have waited too

* The version the House passed, at 160 pages, is 26 pages longer than the version originally reported out of committee

* Even members who may have been familiar with the bill had no opportunity to examine those 26 pages before voting

* The public also had no opportunity to read and provide feedback about the late changes

* Even so, 283 members of Congress voted to pass this bill, which they had not read

It's probable that . . .

* The House didn't want this to be a lingering issue, allowing time for more negative feedback from people like you

* House Democrats wanted a victory before the recess, to compensate for the delayed health care vote

We must tell Congress that they must not rush legislation for the sake of symbolic political victories. They must take the time to read their bills first, and the only way to make that happen is to pass DownsizeDC.org's Read the Bills Act.

Send another letter to your Congressional employees telling them to introduce and pass the Read the Bills Act.

Use your personal comments to tell them you're angry that HR 2749 was rushed to the floor unread.

You can also thank or spank your House Rep. for his or her vote if you want to. Check here to see how your Representative voted.

Tell your Senators to vote NO on the Senate version of HR 2749, which will add huge new regulatory costs to every phase of food production, without necessarily improving food safety.

To keep pace with the number of letters we sent last month, we must send 2,507 of them in response to this Dispatch.

For a list of all the bills Congress passed July 21-31, see the blog version of this Dispatch.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer. To see the latest member of the RTBA Coalition and to see how we're growing, check out the Keeping Score section below my signature.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson

Assistant to the President

DownsizeDC.org

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

The newest member of the Read the Bills Act Coalition of blogs, talk shows, and websites is The Tax Abolitionist Chronicles.

We've grown by 109 net new members since Monday. This brings us to 3,375 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,724 -- nearly 73% of the way from 27,000 to 28,000!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge -- it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using DownsizeDC.org's secure online contribution form.

Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN AUGUST: 2 unlisted -- 2 total  FROM JULY: Barbara Greenhouse, Henry Wood, Donald B. Fox, Mickey Adams, Mary E Sullivan, Raul A., Michael Jones, Alan Farrar, Emma Flores, Michael S Gerlica, John C Matthews, Cheston E Unnewehr, Val Grayson, Arlene Aquino, Susan Varey, Chris Sengenberger, John DiLiberto, 3 unlisted -- 20 total.

Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN AUGUST: Edward J. Krieger, Lynnette Thompson -- 2 total  FROM JULY: Robert Lonaberger, Lucy Cole, Donald E Forward, Steven J Lavelle, Karen Glasgow, Brian Keith, Susan Thomas, Chelsea Moller, Michael Herman, Bonnie Hofer, Anita Binns, Brian O'Neill, Richard E Camp, Travis Walston, Donald Grahn, Sonja Thompson, 16 unlisted -- 32 total.

If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute at the Foundation's secure contribution form.

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