NYC Letter: Innovations In Government, No.1

Day 41 of CHOPE

Read the bill, then vote.

But, you are thinking, that is the natural order of things. Oh-ho, not so in hysteron-proteron Washington, where massive omnibus legislation is voted on its political muscle, not its contents.

READ THE BILL, CONGRESS -- IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?

February 27, 2009 (opensecrets.org) - Let's say you're considering an expensive decision. Maybe you're thinking of buying a house or a car. Maybe you're choosing a college or thinking of changing jobs. How long would you ponder? Overnight? A couple days? Maybe a whole week?

Now let's say you were considering a really expensive decision -- a multi-billion-dollar decision, like your elected representatives in Congress routinely do. Wouldn't you want a little time to consider the facts and make up your mind?

Like, 72 hours -- just three days.

Is that too much to ask?

No, it's not. And that's why the Center for Responsive Politics and a coalition of organizations of all stripes and missions are petitioning Congress to enforce the 72 Hour Rule -- don't vote on any non-emergency legislation that hasn't been publicly available on the Internet, in its complete form, for at least three days. Routinely Congress gives itself mere hours to consider hundreds of pages -- the recent stimulus bill was 1,100 pages long and got passed in 13 hours.

Unless we start electing speed-readers, the result of this haste will continue to be wasteful spending, unintended consequences and hidden provisions becoming law.

There is a short petition at Readthebill.org, if you think this sort of thing will make Congress bow to the obvious.

And here is a little video making the point.

CHOPE.

Too big to read. Too late to read. Ready to vote.