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The Read the Bills Act is legislation written by Downsize DC, a non-profit organization focused on decreasing the size of the federal government. The intention of the Read the Bills Act is to require Congress to read the legislation that they pass. The proposed act is a response to the passing of bills like the Patriot Act that are thousands of pages long and are passed without copies being made available to even the Congressmen who vote on the bill. The bill is aimed at decreasing the size of government and speed at which it grows.

The Read the Bills Act would require each house of Congress, in the presence of a quorum, to read any bill that they vote on. If a member is not present at the reading, he will be required to sign a sworn affidavit saying that they have read the bill. If a bill is amended at the last moment Congress will be required to read, again in full, the bill before a quorum in front of Congress. The same rules applying to absent Congressman will apply to all readings of last minute amendments to the legislation.

Congress will also be required to post the newest version of the bill on their website at least seven days prior to a publicly-announced vote. Any amendments to the bill will yield a new posting on the internet of the bill and another seven day waiting period.

It will also require that all bills coming up for renewal in Congress under 'sunset' provisions will be subject to all rules of the Read the Bills Act.

The Read the Bills Act is intended to slow down Congress. Instead of passing many large bills in a short amount of time, Congress will have to either pass shorter bills or pass less bills than they currently do (2/2006).

Theoretically, legislation will become shorter and less complex. In order to be able to read the bills, Congress will have to tackle fewer issues and have fewer projects in each bill. Due to the seven day waiting period, Congress will not be able to pass as many "pork" projects because the public will have a chance to voice their objection. Old legislation coming up under sunset provisions will probably become shorter because Congress will have to reread the bills.

Congress will not be able to insert last minute secret clauses because they will have to reread the entire bill with the new additions and wait another seven days before passing the legislation.

• Downsize DC Foundation

• Downsize DC - the organization that drafted the Read the Bills Act
• [1] - Downsize DC's page on the act