Liberty Maven

The debauchery on Capitol Hill continues unabated, with an amazing ninety-three new bills introduced yesterday in Congress, many of which attempt to do the same thing.  How many of these bills do you think are Constitutional?  (Answer: very few).  Here are some of the worst:

• HR1652 – To require institutions receiving certain assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or the Federal Reserve to have employee bonus payment plans approved in advance of the payments being made.  [Each member of Congress must operate in a bubble, and/or they're all hoping for the "credit" if their bill is passed.  This is at least the fifth bill on this subject in the past three days!]
• HR1656 – To require TARP payments to be conditioned on the top 10 highest wage earners at a company having repaid any bonuses received during the previous 5 fiscal years.  [Six!  Ok, let's review.  We have HR1542 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY], HR1572 by Rep. Michael Thompson [D-CA],  HR1582 by Rep. Steven LaTourette [R-OH], HR1603 by Rep. Charles Wilson [D-OH], HR1652 by Rep. Christopher Murphy [D-CT], and now this one from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R-CA].  Are these people working in a vacuum?  Could the process be any more inefficient?]
• HR1650 – To enhance the oversight authority of the Comptroller General of the United States with respect to expenditures under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.  [Yet another TARP regulation bill.  The full text of the bill is not currently available, so I couldn't tell if it specifically mentions employee bonuses so I could add it to the list above.  Why don't these people just come out and admit that this TARP garbage is immoral an unconstitutional in the first place?]
• S-651 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on excessive bonuses paid by, and received from, companies receiving Federal emergency economic assistance, to limit the amount of nonqualified deferred compensation that employees of such companies may defer from taxation, and for other purposes.  [Number 7, by Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT]…]
• HR1649 – To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to reduce the size of core curriculum classes in public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
• HR1645 (also S-638) – To provide grants to promote financial and economic literacy.  [While I think it's critical that people become more financially and economically literate, government should certainly not be the teacher, or else we'll end up with more Keynesian nitwits that have destroyed our economy to date.  Rather, people can take Chris Martenson's Crash Course for free, and read books like Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and Tom Woods' Meltdown.]
• HR1643 (also S-648) – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a prospective payment system instead of the reasonable cost-based reimbursement method for Medicare-covered services provided by Federally qualified health centers and to expand the scope of such covered services to account for expansions in the scope of services provided by Federally qualified health centers since the inclusion of such services for coverage under the Medicare Program.
• HR1642 – To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing facilities.
• HR1641 – To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of the Cascadia Marine Trail.
• HR1640 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers from usury, and for other purposes.  [Caveat emptor.  The process of buying a home would be much quicker and hassle-free if not for the myriad of regulations and bureaucratic red-tape imposed by the federal, state, and local governments.]

• HR1608 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish a national usury rate for consumer credit transactions, and for other purposes.
• HR1639 – To amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend Federal reimbursement of emergency health services furnished to undocumented aliens.  [So Rep. Gabrielle Giffords [D-AZ] wants us all to pay for health care services for those who are in this country illegally.  What do you think of that?]
• HR1637 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit universal defaults on credit card accounts, and for other purposes.
• HR1636 – To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act with respect to the qualification of the director of food services of a Medicare skilled nursing facility or a Medicaid nursing facility.
• HR1635 – To authorize alternatives analysis and preliminary engineering for new Metrorail capital projects in Northern Virginia and surrounding areas.  [So farmers in Kansas will be forced to help pay for commuter transit in Virginia?]
• HR1634 – To amend title 23, United States Code, to extend the period during which States may allow low emission and energy-efficient vehicles to use high occupancy vehicle facilities.
• HR1629 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide penalty free distributions and loans from certain retirement plans for the purchase and refinancing of principal residences.
• HR1628 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit hardship loans from certain individual retirement plans.  [Sounds like a good idea, but why should the government tell you what you can and cannot do with your own money in the first place?]
• HR1625 (also S-654) – To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to cover physician services delivered by podiatric physicians to ensure access by Medicaid beneficiaries to appropriate quality foot and ankle care.
• HR1623 – To protect children from sexual exploitation by mandating reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers and other sex offenders against minors intending to engage in international travel, providing advance notice of intended travel by high risk sex offenders outside the United States to the government of the country of destination, preventing entry into the United States by any foreign sex offender against a minor, and for other purposes.
• HR1622 – To provide for a program of research, development, and demonstration on natural gas vehicles.
• HR1621 – To withhold Federal funds from schools that permit or require the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem in a language other than English.  [So let's get this straight: The feds confiscate money from the citizens of a state, and then agree to give some back for specific purposes (schooling, in this case).  But the local school officials cannot run the school way it deems best for those living in the community; instead, the Feds try to dictate how things will be run by threatening to not give the state their own money back.  What a racket!]
• HR1619 – To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit preexisting condition exclusions for children in group health plans and health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets.
• HR1616 – To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to permit States the option to provide Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals infected with HIV.
• HR1615 – To amend section 435(o) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding the definition of economic hardship.
• HR1614 (also S-652) – To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to community health coalitions to assist in the development of integrated health care delivery, and for other purposes.
• HR1612 – To amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to expand the authorization of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior to provide service-learning opportunities on public lands, help restore the nation’s natural, cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, and scenic resources, train a new generation of public land managers and enthusiasts, and promote the value of public service.
• HR1611 – To amend the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 to repeal a provision prohibiting the use of funds for a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexican-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico.
• HR1610 – To amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to limit the annual percentage rate of interest that may be charged by recipients of financial assistance under such Act with respect to consumer credit card accounts, and for other purposes.
• HR1609 – To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Administrator of the Internal Revenue Service to verify income for purposes of determining the eligibility of persons for certain Department of Agriculture payments and benefits, and for other purposes.
• HR1607 – To provide for and promote the economic development of Indian tribes by furnishing the necessary capital, financial services, and technical assistance to Indian-owned business enterprises, to stimulate the development of the private sector of Indian tribal economies, and for other purposes.
• HR1606 – To establish a new automobile voucher program.
• HR1605 – To seek the establishment of and contributions to an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, and for other purposes.
• HR1604 – To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections.  [Each state has absolute jurisdiction over how its elections are handled.  And then there's the argument that voting by mail is a very bad idea.]
• HR273 – Recognizing the 188th anniversary of the independence of Greece and celebrating Greek and American democracy.
• HR271 – Recognizing the need to support the development and enforcement of a well-informed national long-term care strategy to solve the problems of cost, quality, and access to long-term care in the home and community, and the imperativeness of including long-term care in the comprehensive health care reform agenda.
• HR270 – Recognizing the establishment of Hunters for the Hungry programs across the United States and the contributions of those programs efforts to decrease hunger and help feed those in need.
• HR269 – Supporting the goals of Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
• HR268 – Recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of Earth Hour 2009.
• HR267 – Recognizing the cultural and historical significance of Nowruz, expressing appreciation to Iranian-Americans for their contributions to society, and wishing Iranian-Americans and the people of Iran a prosperous new year.
• HR266 – Celebrating 90 years of United States-Polish diplomatic relations, during which Poland has proven to be an exceptionally strong partner to the United States in advancing freedom around the world.
• S-655 – A bill to amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to ensure adequate funding for conservation and restoration of wildlife, and for other purposes.
• S-662 – A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for reimbursement of certified midwife services and to provide for more equitable reimbursement rates for certified nurse-midwife services.
• S-661 – A bill to strengthen American manufacturing through improved industrial energy efficiency, and for other purposes.
• S-660 – A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to pain care
• S-659 – A bill to improve the teaching and learning of American history and civics.  [Unless this bill specifically dismantles the entire Department of Education, it is worthless.]
• S-656 – A bill to provide for the adjustment of status of certain nationals of Liberia to that of lawful permanent residents.
• S-649 – A bill to require an inventory of radio spectrum bands managed by the national telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.
• SR79 – A resolution honoring the life of Paul M. Weyrich and expressing the condolences of the Senate on his passing.
• S-647 – A bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the transparency of information on skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities and to clarify and improve the targeting of the enforcement of requirements with respect to such facilities.
• S-646 – A bill to amend section 435(o) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding the definition of economic hardship.
• S-643 – A bill to amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit preexisting condition exclusions for children in group health plans and health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets.
• S-641 – A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prevent the abuse of dehydroepiandrosterone, and for other purposes.
• S-639 – A bill to amend the definition of commercial motor vehicle in section 31101 of title 49, United States Code, to exclude certain farm vehicles, and for other purposes.
• SCR11 – A concurrent resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and reaffirming the support of Congress for the mandate of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Ant-Semitism, and for other purposes.

Please take a couple of minutes out of your day to contact your representatives via telephone simply to tell them that you support or oppose a particular bill.  It’ll most likely take you less than two minutes, and it’s so very important that we stand up to our increasingly tyrannical government.

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

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