Two bills introduced yesterday in Congress would require pilots to avoid distractions when they’re flying planes.
Sounds like a good idea! And it sounds like Congress is surfing the headlines!
It’s what we call “wakerider” legislation, when Congress jumps in on the latest news, offering a “fix”—often too late.
Of course, it was just last week [...]
With the illness formerly known as “swine flu” splashed across the headlines all through the last week, it’s no surprise to see Congress surfing the issue.
S. 953, introduced on Friday, would establish “programs and activities to increase influenza vaccination rates through the provision of free vaccines.”
It’s hard to know whether free vaccines meet the problem [...]
Everyone’s abuzz about the bonuses being paid out to AIG employees, some reaching above $1 million.
And Congress is there on the case, chasing down the money that . . . it is responsible for putting out there in the first place.
(Yes, yes, AIG money was a loan from the Fed, not TARP – [...]
This past week, we saw news of a skirmish between Chinese and U.S. boats in the South China Sea. Five Chinese ships harassed and maneuvered close to a U.S. Navy ship, the USNS Impeccable.
The Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Its crew members stripped to their underwear, [...]
There’s nothing like headlines to get Congress’ attention. And the furor over the crazed chimp that mauled a woman in Connecticut last week has piqued our national legislature’s interest.
On Monday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 80, the Captive Primate Safety Act. It would add nonhuman primates (monkeys, great apes, lemurs, etc.) to [...]
The beginning of a new Congress always sees a lot of bills that would propose amendments to the Constitution.
That idea always starts with at least one strike against it – that document is not to be trifled with.
But maybe there are some good ideas out there. Let’s take a look:
There are two [...]
Here’s something interesting to note from the raft of bills introduced when Congress returned briefly after the election: A bunch of ‘em were about the financial services bailout. Mostly in the Senate, but with a few examples in the House, bills were introduced to manage how the bailout would work.
Here’s the problem with that: The [...]
A good number of bills have been introduced this week to distribute blame and respond to the financial crisis triggered by the failure of the government-sponsored home mortgage enterprises.
“Wakerider” legislation – bills that follow the headlines – deserve some skepticism because the time is ripe for political posturing and other silliness, but some of the [...]
Here’s another “wakerider” bill – legislation introduced on the heels of a newsworthy event – dealing with the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (discussed earlier here and here):
S. 3471, a bill to prohibit government-sponsored enterprises from making lobbying expenditures, political contributions, or other certain contributions. (I’m sure they meant “certain other” [...]