The Shell Game

The Constitution says, “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.” This was done by drafters of the Constitution to insure that spending bills were originated by the body of Congress closest to the people they represented.

However, since we have a lot of lawyers in the Senate, they figured out that they could technically violate this principal by amending HR 1424, a bill already passed by the House but not for that purpose. The Senate version of the bailout package is technically an amendment to a House bill that would require group health insurance plans to provide equivalence, or parity, in the coverage of mental and physical illnesses – HR 1424. In affect, the Senate used HR 1424 as a shell for a different purpose than what it was intended.

The other thing the Senate does is to incorporate earmarks, amendments, riders, and add-ons to House-approved legislation. Many of these changes have no relationship to the actual legislation being considered. In recent years both Houses of Congress have come up with a new strategy – make the bills so big and so complicated that unless you have a few weeks, a team of lawyers, access to every piece of legislation ever written, and a strong desire; it is impossible to determine what exactly the bill will do or not do. In addition, put in contradictions that override each other in certain cases.

THIS IS A DISGRACE!

So, what can we, The American People, do about it?

We must get our elected officials to act! What is needed is a new piece of Legislation to simplify the text of Congressional legislation so that average Americans are able to thoroughly understand exactly the intent of Congress in passing these Bills and Resolutions and to disallow earmarks, amendments, riders, and/or add-ons that have no logical relationship to the Act. The Act should be called the `Simplification of Legislation Act'. Any Legislation written after the passage of this bill must be easy to read and comprehend by:
(1) Ensuring that “legal-ease” be removed and replaced with simple to understand terms and concepts; (2) Allowing no earmarks, amendments, riders, and/or add-ons that are not directly related to the intent of the original Legislation; (3) All Legislation must be released to Legislators with adequate time to be properly read and analyzed, provide input back to their constituents and receive feedback; and (4) All legislation must provide the original source of the draft and what groups or persons outside of Congress provided input.
(2) All Legislation (with final markup) will be made available to the public a minimum of ten working days prior to scheduled final vote.
(3) No Legislation will be allowed for Floor vote without meeting those conditions stated in this bill.
(4) The Congress may waive these provisions only in the case of a National Emergency, where an immediate response is the only logical course of action.
(5) Additional Conditions – Failure of a Legislator to read Legislation prior to a Floor vote may be interpreted as non-performance of his or her duties to their respective constituents and may be used as grounds for recall.
I urge you to meet or correspond with your elected Representative and get him or her to make a commitment to get this legislation introduced and passed. If they won’t, find someone else that will and vote for them.
Inaction is not an option!