It’s been a while since our last “and a pony” post, calling out bills in Congress that overpromise what our federal legislature can do.
“Congress is gonna give you a pony, too, sweetheart.” Get it?
Anyway, a clear candidate for the “and a pony” designation was introduced in the House yesterday. It’s H.R. 3725, a bill [...]
There’s no higher goal than empowering women so they can live with equal status to men the world over, but that’s easier said than done.
H.R. 2214 is a bill “to empower women in Afghanistan.” If you think that the U.S. Congress can pass laws to make something like that happen, you’ve got [...]
Since we’ve been in big economic stimulus bills and such up to our necks, I haven’t had time to call out the really fun legislation that gets introduced all the time in Congress.
One of my favorites are the bills that make dramatic claims about what they can achieve. And health care is one where [...]
More than 350 bills were introduced in Congress on its first day yesterday. At that rate, we’ll easily rocket past 10,000 bills, and past the last Congress’ record of over 11,000 bills. (And of course that rate won’t actually continue.)
We’ll be adding the new bills to the database throughout the day, but what [...]
It’s probably a little late in the day here on Thanksgiving for you to use this recipe – but it’s darn good, mainly because of the cream cheese (which is also why they call it the “sinful” mashed potatoes recipe.)
“Sinful” Mashed Potatoes
(serves 6-8)
2 C hot or cold mashed potatoes
1 large package (8 oz.) cream cheese, [...]
This time it’s not a politician to blame for making exaggerated claims. It’s one of these coalitions that spring up when a certain set of people want a certain set of goodies from the government.
The Coalition for Free Broadband Now wants the Federal Communications Commission to auction of some of the electromagnetic spectrum [...]
Before leaving for its August recess last week, Congress saw the introduction of its 10,000th bill. Meanwhile, not a single one of the twelve annual bills that direct the government’s spending priorities in 2009 has passed the Senate and only one has passed the House. Congress is neglecting its basic responsibility to manage [...]
Something about health care seems to bring out the braggadocio in Members of Congress. (Braggadocio? – big word! How about “exaggeration.” Wait! I’ve got it – “boasting.”)
Something about health care seems to bring the boasting out of Members of Congress. Last time it was “personalized medicine.” This time it’s [...]
We’re back on energy issues, with the introduction of a bill to solve every last problem with one fell swoop. And we’ll all get a pony.
According to its statement of intent, H.R. 6529 would “greatly enhance the Nation’s environmental, energy, economic, and national security by terminating long-standing Federal prohibitions on the domestic production of [...]
H.R. 6498 is called the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2008. It was introduced on Tuesday this week.
The bill’s statement of purpose is what wins it membership in the “and a pony” category of congressional bills: “To secure the promise of personalized medicine for all Americans by expanding and accelerating genomics research and initiatives [...]