Tag: US Congress

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Kerry Bentivolio introduced the Read the Bills Act of 2013. This legislation makes important changes to the way Congress does business by giving ample time to review legislation before it is voted on, requiring that all votes on passage be taken by roll call, and by providing that legislation shows in context how it modifies existing law.

It is a basic moral question that a member of Congress should only vote to pass legislation having read and understood it. The Read the Bills Act accomplishes this by requiring that every vote on a bill's passage take place no less than 7 days after the text of the bill is available on-line to the public where it can easily be found. There is an exception to the "7 day rule" for declarations of war.

"It is our duty to be transparent to the constituents we serve. This legislation will increase transparency and ensure that Congress doesn't pass legislation to find out what is in it," said Rep. Bentivolio. "Every law affects how the American people live and it is a dereliction of the Oath of Office to pass laws without knowing what they are."

Rep. Bentivolio's, bill may be viewed here.

Watching the sidebar, one of the #RightMi hashtag users (designated conservative) tweeted out this video of Thad McCotter from 2008 when there was a full house of Democrats to appreciate his creative edginess.

Enjoy.

Disappointment alert:  You may not feel more confident in the legislative process after this video.

Straight up, it was a super-wasteful, corruptly built new state police HQ, while the state was laying off 100 state troopers and cutting back other law-and-order funding.

Last year the state completed its plans to move the Michigan State Police headquarters from the previous East Lansing location on the campus of Michigan State University to a newly constructed building a few miles away in downtown Lansing.  Keep in mind that the state police did not ask for this new HQ, and the state police union expressed disappointment in both the timing and the limitations of the new facility (more on that later).

The developers built the new HQ for $39 million, and it was not competitively bid.  For that money, while it will have a big marble-floored lobby and a gym, the site of the new HQ has still been criticized for being too small -- the site does not have room for an emergency operations center, garage space to warehouse vehicles, or a helipad -- and worse, "the federal flood plain prohibits law enforcement high tech and Homeland Security operations from being moved there."  (Here's the link for that quote - read the whole thing, because this deal sounds more and more rotten.)

Not that I didn't want to support Benishek, or think he was not worth the $25 contribution.  No.. Rather I didn't expect he would HAVE to spend a great amount of capital to win a race that should be so eminently winnable given the way in which Bart Stupak handled his affairs.  The spending levels shouldn't HAVE to be so high, as the corrective juggernaut which is fueled by a responsible government sentiment is just now fully underway.

I must give full credit to Jason Allen for his understanding the consequence of fighting among ourselves, and what copuld be viewed as self destructing because of a stroked ego.  He took the high road.  He understood oh-so-well, how its possible to wreck all that you stand for by allowing a personal, but misplaced sense of self to override a bit of common sense.  How splitting hairs over 'perfect' stands on some issues before a congressional candidate, might be used only to split votes in an election.