Stand alone bills for every bill in congress. Nomore pork bellies added to every bill. Time to stop the waste of our money.
99 Likes
How to draw the lines. That is the question. How do we define when a bill is mixing legislation? Congress thinks it can regulate anything under the Commerce Clause. The so-called USAPATRIOT Act was over 2,200 pages* . What makes a stand-alone bill stand alone? We need to be more specific here.
-
And was written years in advance. How did they know to do that?
8 Likes
Every time a bill is passed, there are often times hidden “gems” the public doesn’t even know about. I purpose that every bill be a singular item which must be voted on. This will make transparency a breeze.
27 Likes
I absolutely agree. The last nightmare occurred yesterday with a 1500 page continuing resolution that Chuck Schlumer and McConnell spent 3 months on in secret, crafting their Christmas List of little goodies — many of which trampled the rights of Americans while protecting themselves from a future Trump administration by making their emails off limits to future investigations – can you believe the audacity of these traitorous educated idiots? They make these bills monstrous on purpose – you can stuff a lot of controversial or treasonous legislation in a heaping pile of paper that nobody has time to read. This alone should be grounds for dismissal from our sacred legislative institutions.
For any congress person that moans and groans about it having to take too long to go through each individual piece and vote on it, I have some advice. 1) Stop letting traitors cobble together secret 1500 page legislation over several months and then giving you an hour to read through it and vote on it. 2) Stop waiting to the last minute to decide things and have to vote on EVERYTHING at once. 3) Stop going along to get along up there and start becoming a squeaky wheel when you see other colleagues shoving unconstitutional or costly crap inside of bills – the bills get that big because the sick culture up there is that “everybody is doing it, so I have to get a bite of that apple too, and stick my costly garbage in there also”.
What we really need is to dump these piles of paper called “bills” and have every future bill go through a computer system, where the proper tools can be used to insert/delete/amend/search text within a bill, give each Congress person the ability to see updates in real time, no matter their geographic location, trigger email and text alerts to changes made, give each representative the ability to scroll through itemized lists, voting on some sections while opposing other sections, allowing for the system to track access, security, bill changes, and even text-to-speech renderings and congressional AI-interfacing systems. Let’s see if Schlumer and McConnell can craft some secret midnight 3-month long legislation in the back closet when you have all of Capital Hill watching every keystroke happening in real time from anywhere in the world, on their own laptop. That would certainly shut down this little game of theirs.
These congressmen/women are purposely operating in a 1950s style environment, just like banks, because they can use the delays and inefficiencies to their advantage, making millions in the process. Its time to end this entire antiquated process of how a bill becomes a law, and move it into today’s technological framework, thus eliminating these “inefficiency games” that they play in the name of legislative control. Enough is enough.
OK…stepping off the patriotic soap box now. I’m slap “griped out”. Back to you, Dave. 
UPDATE: Looks like a lot of fall-out coming from that 1500 page monstrosity that Congress tried to pass…
18 Likes
They should read every one publicly. Then debate with a public live chat so WE THE PEOPLE get a VOICE!
14 Likes
I agree. If a bill is introduced and goes to committee for changes, the bill should not have unrelated add-ons. Bill to be voted on should not have riders attached. All bills should be read aloud, broadcast on media acessoble to all to hear, see, and comments allowed. These are things our senators and representatives should be informing us about anyway.
6 Likes
Yes, we should have never started doing this. Bring each bill up on it’s own merit and vote separately. If Americans have to tighten their financial belt, so should the government. It’s a matter of making ends meet today.
7 Likes
Well the line is on a stand alone bill, the subject of the bill, nothing should be in the bill that does not relate to the subject, example, if the subject is say housing, everything in the bill, should only be related to housing, no more adding in say money to other countries. Or track the migrant birds in Africa or how many butterflies there are in the country, things that for one are a waste of money and don’t have anything to do with the subject housing. Does this help define where the line should be drawn
6 Likes
Agree on single issue bills. They should all be posted to a website for at least 48 hours and feedback from Americans should be taken into account.
7 Likes
Better yet, perhaps every keystroke, every addition, every deletion and modification of text, every “checked out by” info, and every “checked in” bill version be made transparent to the American People in REAL TIME…finally locked into place after a period of time, where the American People can openly discuss the legislation for perhaps a month or more, contacting their congressperson if necessary, before the bill goes to a transparent floor vote?
This process is already being used in today’s multi-programmer software development platforms – it is not like we would be re-inventing the wheel. Simply apply this software coding process to the legislative bill creation process and have Congress be made to take courses on how to use this system, ensuring that they get a passing grade before being able to submit or co-sponsor any bills. Easy-peasy. One has to ask, why this is not being done already. Old dogs (even ancient congressional ones) can learn new tricks – I promise!
2 Likes
ABSOLUTELY!
This needs to be at the top of the list. Our politicians cannot be allowed to keep sneaking pork through to help themselves and their donors, nor can they keep using this as a way to postpone or kill useful bills without bearing accountability.
3 Likes
This, to me, would be a very good beginning to transparency in Congress. It is so simple in its conception. Simply dismiss everything worded anything like Columbo: ‘Oh, just one more thing…’
4 Likes
I am of the belief that if someone has a complaint, they should offer solutions to fix the complaint. So I am sending a high-level potential solution to the disconnect between our Representatives and Senators and their constituents on how we want them to vote.
Here are some thoughts on changes to how the House and Senate might run. Currently it is the most inefficient process I have ever seen. I am from Maine and have 2 Democrat representatives and an Independent (Democrat) and a Republican (Democrat) who never listen. I contact them, and six weeks later I receive an email telling me they know better and they are going to do the opposite of what I want. Basically, the times I have contacted them were about supporting the efforts of Donald Trump. We need a quicker way for our elected officials to see where we stand.
Somehow we have lost the fact that the House and Senate work for the people and need to be held to that fact. Since they are in the “office” less than 200 days, then they should be in the “office” every day of those 200 days, barring sickness. Our desires and needs need to be top of mind for our elected officials, since they work for us, so they need a more efficient way to know what we want.
Here are my suggestions on how the House and Senate could run more efficiently:
Single-issue bills should be written with doublespeak taken out. Each bill should have a bullet list of the highlights of how money will be spent. The bullet list should be written in everyday English.
Finalized bills must be put on a new app, to be created, that shows the bill so that every citizen of the US can see it.
Every citizen of the US should have access to the app and should be allowed to vote on each bill so that their Representative and Senator can see where their constituents stand.
Single-issue bills should be voted on by the House and Senate 2 days after being finalized.
During the vote, each state’s constituents total votes should be displayed on leaderboards so that every Representative and Senator can be reminded what their constituents want.
Either via an app or buttons on each desk, the Representatives and Senators should vote at the same time, and votes should be tallied immediately. The current process is too slow and cumbersome.
The official results of the vote should then be put on the app for the public to see.
Before any primary election, the constituents should be able to look at the app and be reminded how each of their Representatives and Senators voted compared to what their constituents wanted.
I’m sure all that I’ve written may not be feasible, but I hope that you will take this into consideration. Something needs to happen. Elon Musk and others spoke for the people when they said the recent CR bill of 1,500+ pages was outrageous. The above proposal would allow us to display our feelings as well.
In closing, I never felt this strongly about the government and how it ran until Donald Trump ran for president. I am forever grateful to Donald Trump for what he did and is doing to this great country! Thank you for your time and consideration of my proposal.
3 Likes
If they had colored forms that must be used only for specific problems billing . Example red form for financial changes. Blue for new laws forms not filed properly go in the trash.
2 Likes
Have you actually read the final “emergency” bill passed by Congress? I think you will be as suprised at what is in there as I was. Before my mind surrendered and checked out.
The vast majority of the bill outlines $billions to various DoD departments for repairs to natural disasters around the world in 2023 and 2024 with funding in the billions through 2026! Much of it goes to the Navy for damages from a Western Pacific typhoon in 2023! Some EMERGENCY! Helene and Milton are frequently mentioned, even some for FEMA. But DoD has a fat pocketbook going forward to rebuild and repair facilities (and?) in the Pacific and a bit in Florida, North Carolina and elsewhere.
Overall, you will find the term “emergency” is rather freely used throughout the bill. Such as for the Francis Scott Key bridge restoration item. It appears there was no time to talk about handing Baltimore billions for replacing a bridge in the next year or two and claiming dibs on any legal settlements with the ship owners and operators. If any. Maybe. Sort of.
And then there is RFK stadium and what to do with it since it was abandoned by the Commanders. Another “emergency” that couldn’t wait for thoughtful discussion.
I haven’t taken a calulator to it yet but there is really damn little for “people” impacted by Helene and Milton. It should have taken no more than two or three pages to deal with our real emergencies from recent hurricanes. And much of that qualifying how these emergencies require adherence to other ancient legislation predating most members’ tenure if not age! Given all the references to other laws i’m amazed it didn’t take even more pages.
You will also find the whole thing is defined using really big numbers with no actual detail. The biggest, as I recall, is $2B for the Navy to repair damage from that typhoon in the western Pacific in 2023 (still an emergency two years later). I defy anyone to tell us specifically what we actually get for that $2B! No specifics anywhere! For all we know the Navy is getting a new R&R hotel in the Phillipines that rivals the most lavish commercial hotels in the Pacific islands! No specifics. None. Period.
Presumably some congressional committees know more specifically what that $2B is for but you won’t find it in this bill.
The only good thing I noted is that almost all allocations provide for a small amount (2 or 3%) of the appropriation for “Auditing” the eventual expenditures made in the years ahead. Not necessarily “approval”. Just “checking” them.
No wonder a few Representatives had the courage to vote against it!
As for the original 1,500+ pages, it is claimed that it was “written” by the two top Senators and Representatives and then “dumped” on the Senate and House for “reading” and voting. If the full 1,500+ pages were as bad as the final “trimmed down” bill, NO ONE READ IT AND LIVED! The republican senators that voted FOR it must have been asleep throughout.
AND, how the republican leadership of the Senate, the individual republican senators, the Speaker of the House and President-elect Trump thought that 1,500+ monstrosity sent to the House was a “good compromise”, i.e., a “bipartisan bill”, I’ll never understand!
I feel violated by the whole affair. If THIS is what we can expect from the new Trump administration I want my money back! And my vote!!
3 Likes
I imagine Bills originate as “Stand Alone” and have additions to entice passage; I will make up an example: Say the Ogallala Aquifer - needed for crop irrigation - is depleting such as to potentially cause famine and economic collapse in most states not bordering the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean; so, a Bill is introduced to address the situation. Why should oceanic border state politicians vote to approve the Bill? After all, the citizens they represent would gain nothing from tax money given to rescue the other citizens. So, an addition to the “Stand Alone” Bill may include a reduced price for grain & beef sold from States that need irrigation from the Ogallala Aquifer to states that do not need food from those States.
Note: I believe the Ogallala Aquifer is in serious need of attention, after first addressing it in an Investigative Report published in 2021.
3 Likes
Hell with 48 hours. the bills should be written and up on the internet so All can view, and have a month to read, analyse, and determine whether it is balanced as pertaining to the subject it covers and WE THE PEOPLE are in favor of its UNITED BENEFITS. That includes our National Expenditures for the upcoming year. If we want the dollar to be the monitary vehicle of world commerce, congress needs to reduce and eliminate the agregeous DEBT they have created.
3 Likes
Large IT departments use software called “version control” to allow hundreds of coders to check-check-out code without introducing flaws into the final release. Every latest version can be viewed in real time all over the planet. I know, I used it to check in code that I worked on with computer programmers from India to Australia to England and all over the country – all working on the computer code at the same time.
We could see real time updates. We could freeze check-ins, search through past versions, make comparative text checks between versions, we could roll back parts of some versions while updating other parts of interconnected versions. There was administration in the background, showing who checked in what code and at what date and time, and from what location and even the PC ID doing the check-in. The system had full word processing tool capabilities with spell checking, searching, text comparisons, text formatting,…the works. Crafting bills into laws with a few “whereas” kiddie clauses in it is light years more ‘elementary’ and simplistic than contolling millions of lines of code being updatied in real time between dozens of coders spread out all over the planet. To underscore my point, Schlumer and McConnell probably did the bulk of the heavy lifting of their 1500 page grotesque monstrosity on a single cheap PC in some back office for 3 months in secret.
This DAMN SURE can be done with crafting bills that eventually turn into laws. They just don’t want to do it because they loose control and Schlumer and McConnell cant shove treasonous crap in there in the middle of the night and push for a rush vote to turn that treason into law.
I propose we develop such a system for congressional reps up there and force them to take courses on how to use the tool in order to co-sponsor and submit bills for a vote. If they are too darn old to learn this new “bill version control” system, they need to be sent home to their geriatric facilities, where most of them belong in the first place. It is time to update ‘The Hill’ with OUR OWN tools (and replace congress persons who are not even capable of learning and advancing with more modern tools). The “Congressional Stone Age” should catch up with 21st-century technology. The gap is too wide, and it is being criminally exploited with the introduction of every newly-crafted bill. At this point, it represents a National Security threat to our nation.
2 Likes
Agreed if they really want the American people to be informed, this would allow everyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening in our government, also make them accountable to what there doing, also the old dog statement, your right, there is a few of old dogs who have adapted to today’s technology, just saying, if we can do it, these people in government with these college degrees should be able to.
I love your opening sentence, “I am of the belief that if someone has a complaint, they should offer solutions to fix the complaint.”.
I temper my complaint about Bills not being ‘Stand alone’ acknowledges that different constituencies (geographic, population density, weather, agricultural, etc.) have different needs; so, some give-and-take is apropos.
That said, any Bill comprising of more written pages than the United States Constitution is an apostasy against all I hold dear.