CONGRESSIONAL FACT-CHECK

It has come to our attention time after time that the bulk of our Senators and Congressional Reps have not read the bills on which they are voting.

How they vote comes down to what their party leadership tells them to do.

The recent failed attempt to repeal Obamacare shows this problem for what it is. I would bet that not even 50% of Republicans bothered to read the thousands of pages involved in ACA. Democrats probably didn't fare much better here.

All were deprived of the opportunity to read what they were voting on. Even at the peak of the discussions, no one really knew the contents of the Republican plan, because it was still being written.

Perhaps there never was a "peak." With such lack of information, the whole discussion was a low-point of American history. A form of demagoguery seemed to be the code of the discussion from beginning to end -- perhaps unintentionally; perhaps intentionally. Half-truths, misstatements and outright lies were the rules of the day throughout the "discussions."

Thus; a simple proposal for better government with less demagoguery:

The Federal Government should be REQUIRED to establish and use its own "CONGRESSIONAL FACT-CHECK" organization, parallel to GAO. Such organization should employ no one who is not a speed reader; at hundreds of pages per hour with comprehension levels well in excess of 80% to 90%. No bill, and no amendment should be allowed on the floor of either HR or SENATE without a full review from this group.

Congressional Fact-Check would compile a complete table-of-contents and index for each bill and amendment to make it possible for Reps and Sens to check every statement/claim made by the authors/signatories -- and all opposing statements -- to each bill/amendment without having to rely on their party leadership.

This would make it possible for discussions to be based on total disclosure rather than verbal legerdemain.

All statements -- public/private, in Sen/Rep chambers or in private/public hearings -- SHOULD be accompanied by chapter-verse-and-line references so that all involved in the discussions and the general public can check the actual facts of the bills for themselves.

Until this kind of thing occurs we will never achieve TRUE representative government. ONLY THEN will we truly be able to hold lawmakers' feet to the fire and determine if they are doing their jobs, and not just taking orders from someone different from their constituents.