[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6203]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           READ THE BILLS ACT

  (Mr. BENTIVOLIO asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BENTIVOLIO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Read the 
Bills Act to provide transparency and accountability from all of us to 
our constituents.
  Read the Bills would provide that Members of Congress and the public 
have 1 week to review any bill and proposed amendments before voting on 
passage. It requires legislation be passed by rollcall, and it makes 
legislation easier to read by requiring that we show, in context, how 
bills would affect existing law.
  It is a basic moral question that a Member of Congress should only 
vote to pass legislation having read and understood it. Every law 
affects how the American people live: who prospers and who suffers, who 
receives help and who is hurt, who is regulated and who benefits. We 
cannot pass laws without knowing what they do.
  No legislation should be passed under cover of procedure. It is our 
duty to be transparent to our constituents, and I hope Members on both 
sides of the aisle will agree that this is an important step to 
rebuilding the trust between the American people and Congress.

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