Liberty Maven

Your Senators and Representatives have continued to be busy little bees, always grinding the sausage.  Forty-four new bills introduced yesterday:

• HR230 – Recognizing the historical significance of the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.  [You've got to be kidding me.  If this weren't displayed on official government sites, I would swear this was a joke.]
• HR1388 – Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act: To reauthorize and reform the national service laws.
• HR1415 – To provide for a demonstration project regarding Medicaid reimbursements for stabilization of emergency medical conditions by non-publicly owned or operated institutions for mental diseases.
• HR1413 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain public employees a deduction for distributions from governmental plans for health and long-term care insurance, and for other purposes.
• HR1412 – To increase public confidence in the justice system and address any unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal process.  [Looking at the full text of this bill, it's clear that the authors have the idea that justice is being served out "unfairly" with respect to race and ethnicity, and are under the mistaken impression that "unconscious bias" can be legislated away.]

• HR1411 – To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a Primary and Public Health Scholarship Program.
• HR1410 – To provide assistance to improve the health of newborns, children, and mothers in developing countries, and for other purposes.  [So, forced charity for the poor conditions in Africa and elsewhere.]
• HR1409 – (Also S-560) To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.  [As though labor unions haven't caused enough trouble already, the government needs to step in to make sure it stays that way.]
• HR1408 – To require all newly constructed, federally assisted, single-family houses and town houses to meet minimum standards of visitability for persons with disabilities.
• HR1407 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reduce cost-sharing under part D of such title for certain non-institutionalized full-benefit dual eligible individuals.
• HR1406 – To direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to reinstate the “uptick rule” on short sales of securities and to suspend the application of mark-to-market accounting principles.  [And speculation that this would happen was a major contributor to yesterday's sucker rally -- people rushed to cover their shorts.]
• HR1405 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow Head Start teachers the same above-the-line deduction for supplies as is allowed to elementary and secondary school teachers.
• HR1404 – To authorize a supplemental funding source for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression activities on Department of the Interior and National Forest System lands, to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire management strategy, and for other purposes.
• HCR70 – Expressing support for the District of Columbia school scholarship program.
• SR72 – A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding drug trafficking in Mexico.  [The full text of this bill was not available while writing this, but this sounds like just another waste of taxpayer money to butt into the business of another country.]
• HR1425 – (Also S-564) To establish commissions to review the facts and circumstances surrounding injustices suffered by European Americans, European Latin Americans, and Jewish refugees during World War II.  [Ugh]
• HR1424 – To name the front circle drive in front of the Oscar G. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility in Iron Mountain, Michigan, as “Sergeant First Class James D. Priestap Drive”.  [...a clearly pressing issue.]
• HR1422 – To reauthorize through 2014 certain programs under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
• HR1421 – To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide Medicaid coverage of drugs prescribed for certain research study child participants.  [I suppose if the government is insolvent, what can it hurt to add more things to the long list of items that will never be paid for.]
• HR234 – Expressing support for designation of a “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day”  [What???]
• HR233 – Recognizing the thousands of Freemasons in every State in the Nation and honoring them for their many contributions to the Nation throughout its history.
• HR232 – Recognizing and commending the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for its contributions in raising awareness of illiteracy, promoting children’s literacy, and fighting poverty through the support of literacy.
• HR231 – Supporting the goals and ideals of “Deep Vein Thrombosis Awareness Month” and “National DVT Screening Day” and supporting efforts to educate the public about deep vein thrombosis, in memory of former Representative Jennifer Dunn.  [Educational programs are almost always a good idea, but again, they're not a legitimate function of the federal government.]
• HR566 – A bill to create a Financial Product Safety Commission, to provide consumers with stronger protections and better information in connection with consumer financial products, and to give providers of consumer financial products more regulatory certainty.  [Whatever happened to the concept of caveat emptor?]
• HR565 – A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide continued entitlement to coverage for immunosuppressive drugs furnished to beneficiaries under the Medicare Program that have received a kidney transplant and whose entitlement to coverage would otherwise expire, and for other purposes.
• S-563 – A bill to direct the exchange of certain land in Grand, San Juan, and Uintah Counties, Utah, and for other purposes.
• S-562 – A bill to require accurate and reasonable disclosure of the terms and conditions of prepaid telephone calling cards and services, and for other purposes.  [Wow, is there anything left that Congress hasn't poked its nose into?]
• S-558 – A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to nutrition labeling of food offered for sale in food service establishments.
• S-557 – A bill to encourage, enhance, and integrate Silver Alert plans throughout the United States, to authorize grants for the assistance of organizations to find missing adults, and for other purposes.
• S-556 – A bill to amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to modernize the process by which interstate firearms transactions are conducted by Federal firearms licensees.
• S-555 – A bill to provide for the exchange of certain land located in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes.

As I continue to beg, please contact your representatives to let them know how you feel about the bills being introduced.

If you don’t know who your Senators are, or how to contact them, click here.

If you dont’ know who your Representatives are, or how to contact them, click here.