Read The Bills Act, Downsize D.C.

Why does a member of congress vote on a law that will impact 300 million people without reading the proposed law? It is called party politics. The party in power is chairpersons of all the committees. The party elects the leaders of the house and the leaders of the senate. The bills proposed are written in the committees by staffs and lobbyists. No bill gets out of the committees without the committee chair's approval. Once the bill is brought up for vote by the full congress, the members vote on a bill based on what the party leaders tell the members. If the members refuse to go along, they will not be supported by the party during the next election. It is almost impossible for a democrat or republican to get elected without their party's endorsement.

Charles Tolleson
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Monday, July 30 was a busy day. The House of Representatives passed 36bills. Assuming a 9-hour day, a bill would have been read, debated,and voted on every fifteen minutes. But that couldn't have happened,because the House also managed to pass 17 resolutions.

How could the House accomplish so much in one day? By not reading or even considering the bills and resolutions they passed.

All in all, the House passed 48 bills in the last week before the August recess, and the Senate passed 32. We normally tell you the total number of pages of legislation Congress passed, but this week,we just don't have the time to add it all up. And we don't think that is needed to prove the point: members of Congress can't possibly have time to read and understand the bills they pass.

Perhaps Congress needs to pass all these bills to keep Big Government running. But that's just the problem. If we want Big Government, we can't have truly representative government. Representation means more than just getting elected. If Congress truly represented the people,they would be reluctant to infringe on our freedoms and spend our money. They wouldn't pass 36 bills in one day. But the more responsibility we place on the federal government, the less time and attention Congress can give to any particular issue. So instead of reading and debating the bills before them, they rush to a vote.That's not accountability. That's not representation. If we want truly representative government, we must Downsize DC. And we must pass the Read the Bills Act.<http://www.downsizedc.org/read_the_laws.shtml>