There were a number of bills I’m going to have to keep track of that I found interesting for various reasons.
First off, our own Wayne Gilchrest introduced one of the first bills on the House docket. H.R. 16 would “amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to improve and reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay program.” It was actually the sixth bill introduced since Nancy Pelosi reserved numbers 1-10 for her own pet items. There’s 18 co-sponsors with this, all with districts surrounding Chesapeake Bay.
Here’s one I really like. Maryland’s Roscoe Bartlett introduced H.R. 77, which would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to change the deadline for income tax returns for calendar year taxpayers from the 15th of April to the first Monday in November.” That would be cool if passed. Obviously the intent is to have the tax bill fresh on the minds of voters.
H.R. 121 could impact me as the push for “green” buildings continues. Rep. Michael Doyle of Pennsylvania is the sponsor of this measure “to improve efficiency in the Federal Government through the use of high-performance green buildings, and for other purposes.” It’s those “other purposes” that always scare me. This bill has 1 co-sponsor.
Ending the “automatic” citizenship of babies born in the U.S. is the aim of H.R. 133, introduced by California Rep. Elton Gallegly. This would “amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to deny citizenship at birth to children born in the United States of parents who are not citizens or permanent resident aliens.” He also brought out H.R. 138, which is an act “to require an employer to take action after receiving official notice that an individual’s Social Security account number does not match the individual’s name, and for other purposes.”
On the other end of the political spectrum, fellow Californian Rep. Zoe Lofgren submitted H.R. 182, which would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on automobiles sold in the United States that are not alternative fueled automobiles, and for other purposes.”
Texas Rep. Ron Paul wants to get rid of the Clinton Social Security tax increase with H.R. 192, a bill that would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits.” This actually has 5 co-sponsors.
Congress has jurisdiction over the courts. It’s my assumption that Rep. Michael Simpson of Idaho wants his state out of what’s affectionately known as the “Ninth Circus” Court. H.R. 221 has as its purpose “to amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the appointment of additional Federal circuit judges, to divide the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States into two circuits, and for other purposes.”
Turning to the Senate, I found some of their bills interesting too.
S.48 was introduced by Nevada Sen. John Ensign. He and his two co-sponsors want “a bill to return meaning to the Fifth Amendment by limiting the power of eminent domain.”
S.55 would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the individual alternative minimum tax.” Sen. Max Baucus of Montana is the lead sponsor, with 4 co-sponsors.
S.102 also would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend and expand relief from the alternative minimum tax” but in return it also would “repeal the extension of the lower rates for capital gains and dividends for 2009 and 2010.” Not surprisingly, Sen. John F. Kerry is your sponsor for this “soak the rich” (meaning anyone who happens to sell stock for a gain like I have) bill.
Far-left readers of monoblogue already practically worship this Senator, but Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is the sponsor of S.121, “A bill to provide for the redeployment of United States forces from Iraq.” (i.e. cut and run.) He has one co-sponsor, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Boxer is also the sponsor of S.151, which seeks a law “to permanently prohibit oil and gas leasing off the coast of the State of California, and for other purposes.” That bill, in turn, has one co-sponsor – the other California Senator, Dianne Feinstein.
Barbara’s quite the busy lady. She also introduced S.152, which would “amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a program to help States expand the educational system to include at least 1 year of early education preceding the year a child enters kindergarten.” So the government schools would have control of your kids basically from the age of 3 onward.
Our Rep. Gilchrest has a friend in the Senate. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska placed S.183 into the hopper, a bill to “require the establishment of a corporate average fuel economy standard for passenger automobiles of 40 miles per gallon (by) 2017, and for other purposes.”
In total, there were 230 bills introduced in the House and 173 in the Senate. These are just a few that caught my eye. The Thomas service is a nice way to find these bills and their status.
Originally being from Idaho (and having worked for an Idaho Senator), I can shed some light on Simpson’s judiciary bill. Yes, the Idaho delegation wants Idaho out of the 9th Circuit. There are political reasons for this (the 9th is fairly liberal while Idaho, to put it mildly, is not), but also practical reasons. The 9th is hte largest circuit in the country, covering the entire West as well as Alaska and Hawaii. I believe it contains more people in its jurisdiction than any other circuit. It was designed at a time when the West was much less heavily populated than it is now. So the Idaho delegation (and others out West) think it’s time to adjust the workload of some of the 9th circuit judges an create a new circuit.
This proposal has come close to passing in the past, but I guess they never got it done.
Alternatively (to Bartlett’s bill) we could stop income tax withholding so people remember how much they’re paying on a monthly basis.