Digging The Read The Bills Act

A bill, not written by Congress, requiring that US representatives actually read legislation before voting on it, under penalty of perjury, has been around a couple of years, but hasn't received much attention. The authors of the bill aim to remedy that through an online viral campaign, leveraging the sudden power of social networking.

Well, at least it appears that it is beginning. The Read the Bills Act, penned by libertarian grass roots pundit group DownsizeDC.org, has been kicked around a bit on the Web since 2005, when
Why do I say this is just a beginning? DownsizeDC, if true to their word, have pledged to recruit for their cause using a variety of tactics, including "Internet networking," inspired, no doubt, by the successes of their political rivals at MoveOn.org, an organization proving the power of viral communication.

The Read the Bills Act, and its driving slogan "No legislation without representation," were born of frustration with Capitol Hill politicians that seemed unaware of provisions tucked into the verbose, arcane language of legislation, or of unpopular legislation hidden inside unpopular, mammoth bills. And then, though they don't know every detail of the bill, they vote on it anyway.

The Patriot Act seems to be a big sore spot for the bill's support circles, even to the point that DownsizeDC seems to believe that nobody, or next to nobody, in Congress actually did read the whole thing. The Read the Bills Act, if the organization can convince a member of Congress to actually express an interest in doing their job by sponsoring it, requires that:

• 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.