LETTERS
To The Editor:

The Congressional Record is the official record of what goes on in the US Congress, is published every day Congress is in session, and can run anywhere from a few pages to a few hundred pages. During a given session of Congress (about a year) the Congressional Record typically runs thousands of pages and during the last decade, has ranged from about 15K to 30K pages per congressional session. The Congressional Record provides a way for us to keep track of what our legislators are doing, but few of us have the time or inclination to wade through such volume (an unkind rumor has it that when Jacqueline Kennedy was the First Lady, she used to throw away the Congressional Record every morning, without even bothering to unwrap it). Fortunately for us, there are some watchdog groups that keep an eye on the Congressional Record, and when appropriate, they bark to get our attention. One such group is "DownsizeDC.org," whose goal is to get Americans to oppose bad laws, and to support good laws. To that end they have been promoting a campaign to pass the "Read The Bills Act" (RTBA), which would require each bill to be read aloud in both the House and Senate, require every member of Congress to swear that he/she has either personally read or heard read the entire bill, and require that every bill must be published on the internet several days before the vote. You would think that Congress would not have to pass a law to order itself to read the bills it is considering, but the truth is that members of Congress routinely pass huge and complicated bills which none of them has read. Often, copies of a bill are not available before a vote, or they are available with such short lead time, that there is not adequate time to understand the content, effects, and cost of a bill before the vote. For example, DownsizeDC.org reported that last week, the House considered and passed a 422 page bill (HR3580) a mere twenty minutes after the text of the bill was released. I know all the House members are speedy readers, but I doubt if any of then can get through 422 pages in 20 minutes (at this rate, one could read the entire Bible in about an hour) . We need the RTBA. If you agree, you might want to get on the bandwagon at http://www.downsizedc.org/.

Cordially,

Chuck Esposito, Suches, Ga.

To the Editor:

Congressman Deal's article last week in the Sentinel really shows his xenophobia. (The term is typically used to describe fear or dislike of foreigners or in general of people different from one's self.) The Congressman refers to his recent town hall meetings where he said constituents regularly highlighted their frustration with illegal immigration and immigration reform. I was at one of those meetings and the only one I heard talking about this issue was the Congressman. He tries to denigrate illegal immigrants by linking them to the September 11 tragedy, inferring that they were the cause, when the truth is that all those who flew the planes were here legally. The Congressman blames "birthright citizenship" as the cause for the problems of cities, schools and hospitals (ex.: waiting in line in the doctor's office, hospitals, emergency clinic, or grocery checkout). Fortunately we have a Democratic controlled Congress which refuses to deal with this xenophobia and instead has increased the Minimum Wage, passed Medicare Drug Price Negotiations, passed College Student Relief and passed the SCHIP Bill which provides health care for poor children. Congressman Deal voted no on all of this legislation. The poor are different from the Congressman.

Frank Maloney

Vice Chair Democratic Party Ninth District

To the Editor:

I am enjoying the Democratic and Republican articles on your editorial page. I particularly liked the article (September 21) about the visit your Democratic writer made to an Islamic worship service. I hope he will write a sequel telling about the visit by the Imam and other two Muslim gentlemen to the writer's Episcopal service!

Carol McKechnie