Congressional dirty dealing is now on full display

By Anony Mee

The proposed language of the next continuing resolution seems to be back on the drawing board. One of the big questions, though, about the 1,547-page monstrosity that just died in the House is how we can hold accountable the people who created it. Many are saying that bills should identify who’s behind each proposal. In fact, they do. The problem is that this was not a bill. Instead, it was a deliberately opaque runaround using House rules that was intended to hide the actors behind its content.

In civics class, we learned about the legislative process. Here’s how the House describes it:

How Are Laws Made?

Laws begin as ideas. First, a representative sponsors a bill. The bill is then assigned to a committee for study. If released by the committee, the bill is put on a calendar to be voted on, debated or amended. If the bill passes by simple majority (218 of 435), the bill moves to the Senate. In the Senate, the bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and voted on. Again, a simple majority (51 of 100) passes the bill. Finally, a conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The Government Publishing Office prints the revised bill in a process called enrolling. The President has 10 days to sign or veto the enrolled bill.

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Congressional dirty dealing is now on full display - American Thinker