June 25th, 2009

No other organization on earth makes decisions like this

Posted in  Energy  Government  Politics 
Author: Tom Giovanetti || Location: Lewisville, Texas, USA

Once again, the U.S. Congress is going to vote on a massive piece of legislation without even a couple of days to read and consider the details of the bill.

"The fastest speed-readers and the most intelligent minds can't make informed decisions with that much time. How can Congress?" Sunlight Foundation Engagement Director Jake Brewer said today in a statement. "The problem here is the bill wasn't developed in the open in a committee, so no one -- including those members of Congress not on the Energy Committee -- knows how this latest version was created."

The foundation points out that while the bill, formally called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, was 946 pages long last week, it has ballooned to 1,201 pages in recent days with little explanation for how or why. The group is supporting a bill introduced last week that would require the House to post all non-emergency legislation online 72 hours before debate begins.

It's just ludicrous. In the much-vaunted Information Age, when there are so many tools available for breaking complex information down and efficiently analyzing it, there is no excuse for Congress to pass huge changes into law without even knowing what they are voting on.

No excuses . . . unless . . . could it be?  They don't WANT US TO KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING?