Rep. Holt's paper-trail bill, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, has somehow been bogged down in Nancy Pelosi's House, and probably not because the bill's acronym is VCIA. I thought the bill had enough co-sponsors to get a vote, but there are many things about the sausage factory I don't understand. One thing I do understand: this is no time to be silent. If passed, this bill will make it harder for computers to eat votes. Common Cause has the contact tool.
Congress still hasn't voted on S-CHIP expansion -- they're obviously more impressed with a Presidential (sic) veto than the rest of America -- and, if you think they need some more steel in their spine, 1.866.544.7573 is the number to call (courtesy the Coalition on Human Needs). If Congress doesn't act, S-CHIP will expire at the end of September. That must be the delay -- the Democratic leadership must think they're saving face, not only for themselves, but also for Mr. Bush and for Congressional Republicans. Because, you know, really, when they look at each other in the halls of power, no matter their ideological orientation, they all say, he's one of us. Well, if that's more important to them than extending funding on the program they've already mandated and helping poor kids not get sick and die, then none of them ain't none of us.
The Union of Concerned Scientists finds the House-passed Food and Farm Bill wanting -- not enough funding for conservation and organic farming, essentially. But the Senate will take up the Food and Farm Bill soon, and you can suggest that they do better. Possibly, but not definitely, by yelling "food fight!" in your missive.
Public Citizen also provides a contact tool regarding the restoration of habeus corpus rights for detainees, which might include U.S. citizens at the whim of the President (sic). That amendment, by the way, would attach itself to the Defense reauthorization bill, making it hard for Mr. Bush to veto. Unless Senator Graham of South Carolina (feeling pressure on a number of fronts, perhaps?) follows through on his threat to filibuster, which would be a shame.
Big news day, apparently, some of which (like the Monday tasering incident during a John Kerry speech at the University of Florida) tests my ability to condense complex ideas into a single paragraph. And you know I don't like to stick around when a paragraph ends.
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