Read the Bills Act of 2005

The Read the Bills Act of 2005 (RTBA) is a bill being drafted by the Downsize DC Organization at DownsizeDC.org.

Purpose of the Bill

The RTBA will make an attempt to have every member of Congress either read or listen to the bill. The RTBA will require modification to the United States Code. One addition to the Code is a clause that will require the "Clerk of each house to the body of each house called to order and physically assembled with a quorum present throughout the time of the full textual reading of said bill" before any Legislator can vote to approve the bill. The actual clause is to amend into Chapter 2 of Title 1, United States Code, by inserting at the end of the first sentence of Section 106, the following:

“provided however, that no bill — including, but not limited to, any bill produced by conference between the two houses of Congress and any bill or resolution extending, modifying, or otherwise affecting the expiration date of a bill previously passed and enacted into law by Congress — shall pass either house of Congress: (a) without the full text of said bill, and the full text of each and every amendment thereto and — if the bill or resolution extends, modifies, or in any way affects the expiration date of a bill previously passed and enacted into law — without the full text of such bill or resolution and the full text of the bill previously passed and enacted into law having first been individually read verbatim by the Clerk of each house to the body of each house called to order and physically assembled with a quorum present throughout the time of the full textual reading of said bill, and of the full text of any bill previously passed and enacted into law, if any, that is the subject of a bill or resolution extending, modifying or in any way affecting the expiration date of such previously passed bill enacted into law; and (b) without the full text of said bill, and the full text of each and every amendment thereto, and the full text of the previously passed bill and enacted into law, if any, having been published verbatim on the official Internet web site of each house at least seven days prior to a final vote thereon in each house, together with an official notice of the date and time on which the vote on the final version of said bill and its amendments will take place.”

External links

• Full text of the bill in HTML format