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The Dirty Little Secret
Quote of the Day: “Yesterday Democrats in the House introduced a 1,000-page national health-care plan. To make sure at least some people read it, they named it ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Pound Proposal.’” - Conan O’Brien
Subject: The Dirty Little Secret
During the Presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised he’d do something Congress wouldn’t, post bills on the Internet for five days after passage before signing them into law. Yet he has failed to do this for any bill, and now has formally changed abandoned his promise.
It’s easy to see why. Consider the AIG bonus provision in the stimulus bill. Had Obama waited five days to sign the bill the bonus provision would likely have been exposed sooner, and Obama would have been pressured to send the bill back to Congress. But it was the Obama Administration that wanted the provision in the first place!
If the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) had been in force, however, Obama’s broken promise would be irrelevant. Under RTBA, all bills would be posted in their final form for seven days before Congress votes on their passage.
Some may say that Obama didn’t personally know about the AIG bonus provision, but that’s not the point. The point is, Obama’s a party leader and political parties exist in order to raise money for themselves and grant favors to those who help elect them to power. Obama may not have known about the AIG swindle, but he appointed the people who pressured the Democratic Congress to pass it.
More than lobbyists, the most corrupting influence on Congress is the President of the United States. This is the dirty little secret of American politics. Most provisions of bills that increase the size, scope, and power of government aren’t written by a lobbyist, or an ideologue in Congress, but rather by the Administration. This is how it works regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is in the White House.
Congress is now considering whether the federal government should take total control of your health care. Most of the legislation they’re considering wasn’t written by them, but by the Obama Administration.
Is it so unreasonable to tell Congress to at least know what it is they’re passing?
The 1,017-page health care bill (H.R. 3200) was introduced on July 14 and already two committees have approved it. It’s hard to believe that any staff member of these committees read the bill in full, let alone any member of the committee. It will be harder to believe that any other member of Congress will have time to read it before it comes to a vote.
This health-care “reform” is not from the people, it’s from the Obama Administration. The least we can do is ask the representatives of the people in Congress to actually read the bill. Even better, however, would be to demand that they introduce and pass the Read the Bills Act.
In your personal comments, tell Congress that just because Obama’s Administration may want something included in the health care bill doesn’t mean the people want it. Tell them that if they vote for it, they will be held personally responsible for every word and provision of the bill.
And tell them that if they don’t want to have to consider 1000 + pages of legislation, that they should introduce and pass the Read the Bills Act.
To illustrate the irresponsibility of Congress, in the last two weeks the House and Senate combined to pass 28 bills totaling 931 pages. To see the bills Congress passed, see the blog version of this Dispatch.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer. We’re introducing something new this week: instead of listing new members of the Read the Bills Act Coalition in bunches every one or two weeks, we’re going to mention new members as they join us. To see the latest member and to see how we’re growing, check out the Keeping Score section below my signature.
James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org
