Read the Bills

An aspect of the U.S. Attorney scandal that needs to be aggressively highlighted, but won't be, is that the Bush administration was able to slip a measure into the reauthorization of the Patriot Act allowing the Attorney General to appoint "interim" federal prosecutors to indefinite terms, effectively bypassing the checks-and-balances provided by the Senate confirmation process. The desire to create an unaccountable authoritarian executive branch has long been an obvious characteristic of the Bush administration, and it isn't the least bit surprising that they'd take every opportunity to enhance their own power. That is an important aspect of the story that should be noted, but what I want to highlight here is the broken mess of a process that allows a law to be passed without Congress actually knowing what it says. These are our elected representatives, who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests, and they're voting on laws that have drastic effects to the country without even knowing what they say. How is this acceptable to anyone? How is the media not making this a featured story every day?

You might notice I put a small banner on the right sidebar featuring the Read the Bills Act. I strongly urge you to visit the site, read the material, and support their efforts. They have an easy system to let you directly email your Representative and Senators, and they appreciate small donations. The main provisions of the Read the Bills Act include:

• Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
  
  
• Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
  
  
• Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
  
  
• Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
  
  
• Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
  
  
• Congress cannot waive these requirements.

These are laws that absolutely everyone should support, regardless of your personal politics.