Shuroki Online

Did you know that Congress is not required to read the Bills that they pass into law? Doesn’t that seem strange?

• Could your lawyer say that he shouldn’t have to read the contracts you’re supposed to sign?
• Could your accountant say she doesn’t have to check the numbers on your bank statements or your tax returns?
• Aren’t lawyers and accountants subject to laws governing their conduct in such matters?
• And hasn’t Congress passed a law saying that every CEO needs to know and be responsible for the contents of every financial statement his or her company makes public?

Shouldn’t Congress have to live by the kind of rules and laws they impose on others? The answer is clearly yes.
If you agree that Congress should have to read the Bills before they pass them into law, please consider signing up for Downsize DC. They make it quick and painless to send an e-mail to your representatives in support of the Read The Bills Act (among other topics).

Imagine a day . . .When Congress is voting not to control you, but to control themselves. They are voting to pass the Read the Bills Act – RTBA for short. RTBA is about to become law, and the politicians will have to live by it.

* They will have to sit for a reading of every word of every bill before they can vote on it.

* To control those who would skip these readings, every member of Congress will have to sign a sworn affidavit (under penalty of perjury) that they have read every single word of the bill.

* If they do not do this they cannot vote yes on the bill; they can only vote no. They cannot vote to pass any legislation without having read it.

But that’s not all. There will be no more secret rushed votes in the dead of night. There will now be a 7-day waiting period between the final reading of a bill and the vote. And the full text of the bill will be posted on the Internet for everyone to see and criticize, for the full 7-days before the vote.

When RTBA passes things will change in Congress.

The politicians will no longer be able to do things in secret. Everything will be exposed to public view.

The politicians will no longer be able to pass so many laws. This means they won’t be able to spend so much money.

Nor will they incur so much debt, so rapidly as before, because now they will have to endure reading all the legislation they create.

And because they will have to endure reading it, legislation will become simpler and easier to understand, and more open to public comment. The mad-cap growth of the federal government will slow way, way down.

Congress will have to start doing its job again, which is to deliberate and debate and provide oversight. It will be a revolution.

Please help in making this a reality and take back our Government!
Please sign up to Downsize DC
For the sake of full disclosure, the bulk of this article is taken from the initial Downsize DC letter sent to you upon joining. In other words, I didn’t write most of this — but I agree with it ”