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Nothing but the truth!
Congress Must Ban “Add-on” Amendments
May 12, 2009 (San Diego)--Congress this week is discussing ways to limit credit-card companies. But there’s a trout in the milk. Included in the language changing credit-card rules is language regulating the carrying of loaded guns in National Parks.
How did the gun amendment find its way into a credit-card bill? It’s common practice.
Congress must amend the rules so that these special-interest add-ons cannot be tacked onto legislation which has nothing to do with the actual legislative intent. These add-on amendments must be forced to stand on their own merits, not tacked on to unrelated legislation.
These sorts of amendments must be quashed in committee. Guns and credit cards have noting in common, except they are dangerous to consumers.
This is why big bills, including the TARP Bailout Bill, rub to 400 pages which no single Congressman ever bothers to read. So many lobbies cram special favors into bills that nobody in the US Government actually knows who is paying what to whom.
Congressional rules must be changed to limit legislation to single-issue bills. Tacking unrelated legislation onto bills to take advantage of the bandwagon effect must be banned.
Congress has an obligation to conduct business and pass laws with a minimum of political smoke and mirrors. Banning add-on amendments would minimize the wheeling and dealing, and provide voters with their constitutional rights- the ability to hold legislators responsible for their votes.
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