Including weekly top bills, top comments, product announcements
For the first time this year, a bill emerged as the top bill of the week not related to firearms. More than 3,000 POPVOX users weighed in on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act this week, which passed the Senate. You can still weigh in on the bill — and your comment will be delivered to the House, where the bill will be considered next.
Here are the bills and proposals that POPVOX users weighed in on with Congress in the past week. Keep in mind that these numbers aren’t aggregates of total support, but just what happened in the past seven days.
Want to be a part of the POPVOXnation conversation? Please join us on Facebook or Twitter. It’s a great way to stay connected with the POPVOX team and Congress. Thanks for using POPVOX!
Top Bills of the Week: Feb. 8 - 14
1. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
2. Banning the “Five-seveN” handgun and ammunition with the ability to pierce body armor. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
3. The Respecting States’ Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act: To allow reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
4. Honoring the life of Trayvon Martin, urging the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, and calling on the United States Government to address the crisis of racial profiling. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
5. The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act: To prevent gun trafficking.
6. The Assault Weapons Ban: A bill to regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited.
7. Federal Employee Pay Freeze: To eliminate the 2013 statutory pay adjustment for Federal employees. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
8. Common Sense Legislation to End Gun Violence: Washington needs to pass gun laws that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other prohibited purchasers and keep military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines off of our streets. (Sponsored campaign by Mayors Against Illegal Guns*)
9. The Ammunition Background Check Act: A bill to appropriately restrict sales of ammunition. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
10. The Second Amendment Protection Act: To express the sense of the Congress that the US should not adopt any treaty that poses a threat to national sovereignty or abridges any rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as the right to keep and bear arms, and to withhold funding from the United Nations unless the President certifies that the United Nations has not taken action to restrict, attempt to restrict, or otherwise adversely infringe upon the rights of individuals in the US to keep and bear arms, or abridge any of the other constitutionally protected rights of US citizens. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
11. The Safe Skies Act: To require the Secretary of Transportation to modify the final rule relating to flightcrew member duty and rest requirements for passenger operations of air carriers to apply to all-cargo operations of air carriers. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
12. The High Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act: A bill to prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
13. The Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act: A bill to require face to face purchases of ammunition, to require licensing of ammunition dealers, and to require reporting regarding bulk purchases of ammunition. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
14. The Assault Weapons Ban: To regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
15. Senate Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
16. The Restore the Constitution Act: To provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
17. The Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act: To prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
18. The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act: To improve hydropower. — Debuting on the “Top Bills” list! —
19. The Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act: A bill to provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
20. The Handgun Licensing and Registration Act: To provide for the mandatory licensing and registration of handguns.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. *POPVOX invites organizations to create “sponsored campaigns” on POPVOX, which include policy principles and actionable items directed at Congress.
Jan. 4, 2013: With firearms and gun control legislation on the top of the minds of POPVOX users, it seemed appropriate for our first Issue Spotlight of the year to cover this issue. Not surprisingly, nearly a dozen bills have already been introduced in the 113th Congress, not to mention the more than 50 bills introduced in the 112th Congress.
We can expect debate in Congress on what, if any, legislative action is appropriate in response to the Newtown, CT, shooting - and Congress needs to hear from their constituents on this issue at this critical time. (POPVOX will deliver your letters to your Members of Congress — guaranteed.)
More than 40 bills have been introduced in the 113th Congress. (Note: Since some of these bills have just been introduced, bill text isn’t available yet. It generally takes a few days for the Government Printing Office to make the bill text available.)
Relating to Banning Specific Weapons and Ammunition- S 150 The Assault Weapons Ban: A bill to regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited.
- HR 226 The SAFER Streets Act: To amend the tax code to allow a credit against tax for surrendering to authorities certain assault weapons.
- HR 538 Banning the Five-seveN Pistol: To protect the Nation’s law enforcement officers by banning the Five-seveN Pistol and 5.7 x 28mm SS190, SS192, SS195LF, SS196, and SS197 cartridges, testing handguns and ammunition for capability to penetrate body armor, and prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, or purchase of such handguns or ammunition by civilians.
- S 33 The High Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act: A bill to prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
- HR 138 The High Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act: To prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
- HR 720 : To increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of a firearm or the issuance of firearms or explosives licenses to a known or suspected dangerous terrorist. —Just introduced!—
- S 174 The Ammunition Background Check Act: A bill to appropriately restrict sales of ammunition. —Just introduced!—
- S 35 The Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act: A bill to require face to face purchases of ammunition, to require licensing of ammunition dealers, and to require reporting regarding bulk purchases of ammunition.
- HR 142 The Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act: To require face to face purchases of ammunition, to require licensing of ammunition dealers, and to require reporting regarding bulk purchases of ammunition.
- HR 238 The Fire Sale Loophole Closing Act: To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to restrict the ability of a person whose Federal license to import, manufacture, or deal in firearms has been revoked, whose application to renew such a license has been denied, or who has received a license revocation or renewal denial notice, to transfer business inventory firearms.
- HR 34 The Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act: To provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system for those firearms.
- HR 93 The Fire Sale Loophole Closing Act: To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to restrict the ability of a person whose Federal license to import, manufacture, or deal in firearms has been revoked, whose application to renew such a license has been denied, or who has received a license revocation or renewal denial notice, to transfer business inventory firearms.
- HR 404 The Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement Act: To enhance criminal penalties for straw purchasers of firearms.
- HR 236 The Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act: To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers.
- S 34 The Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act: A bill to increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of firearms and explosives licenses to known or suspected dangerous terrorists.
- S 22 The Gun Show Background Check: A bill to establish background check procedures for gun shows.
- HR 141 Closing the ‘gun show loophole.’ To require criminal background checks on all firearms transactions occurring at gun shows.
- HR 137 The Fix Gun Checks Act: To ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the national instant criminal background check system and require a background check for every firearm sale.
- HR 21 The NRA Members’ Gun Safety Act: To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms.
- HR 793 : to impose an excise tax on concealable firearms and to require the Attorney General to establish a firearms buyback grant program. — Just Introduced!—
- HR 578 The Respecting States’ Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act: To allow reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms. —Just introduced!—
- S 147 The Common Sense Concealed Firearms Permit Act: A bill to establish minimum standards for States that allow the carrying of concealed firearms.
- HR 722 : To combat illegal gun trafficking. —Just introduced!—
- HR 427 The Trafficking Reduction and Criminal Enforcement (TRACE) Act: To prevent the illegal sale of firearms.
- HR 452 The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act: To prevent gun trafficking.
- S 179 The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act: A bill to prevent gun trafficking.
- S 54 The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act: A bill to increase public safety by punishing and deterring firearms trafficking.
- S 261 : To establish and clarify that Congress does not authorize persons convicted of dangerous crimes in foreign courts to freely possess firearms in the United States. —Just introduced!—
- HR 575 The Second Amendment Protection Act: To express the sense of the Congress that the United States should not adopt any treaty that poses a threat to national sovereignty or abridges any rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, such as the right to keep and bear arms, and to withhold funding from the United Nations unless the President certifies that the United Nations has not taken action to restrict, attempt to restrict, or otherwise adversely infringe upon the rights of individuals in the United States to keep and bear arms, or abridge any of the other constitutionally protected rights of citizens of the United States.
- S 82 The Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act: A bill to provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
- HR 410 The Restore the Constitution Act: To provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
- HR 619 : To amend title 18, United States Code, to place limitations on the possession, sale, and other disposition of a firearm by persons convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses against children. —Just introduced!—
- S 2 Sandy Hook Elementary School Violence Reduction Act: A bill to reduce violence and protect the citizens of the United States.
- HR 133 The Citizens Protection Act: To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act.
- HR 65 Raising the age of legal handgun ownership to 21. To prevent children’s access to firearms.
- HR 35 Eliminating ‘gun free zones’ in schools. To restore safety to America’s schools.
- HR 577 The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act: To clarify the conditions under which certain persons may be treated as adjudicated mentally incompetent for certain purposes.
- HR 449 The Veterans’ Heritage Firearms Act: To provide an amnesty period during which veterans and their family members can register certain firearms in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
- HRes 40 House Resolution expressing that active duty military personnel who are stationed or residing in the District of Columbia should be permitted to exercise fully their rights under the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
- HR 227 The Buyback our Safety Act: To establish a gun buyback grant program.
- HR 117 The Handgun Licensing and Registration Act: To provide for the mandatory licensing and registration of handguns.
- HR 661 : To repeal certain impediments to the administration of the firearms laws. —Just introduced!—
- HR 431 The Gun Transparency and Accountability (Gun TRAC) Act: To restore certain authorities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to administer the firearms laws.
- HR 332 The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act: To provide victims of gun violence access to the same civil remedies as are available to those injured through other means.
- HR 321 The Firearm Safety and Public Health Research Act: To amend the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013 (Public Law 112-175) to permit research on firearms safety and gun violence.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system.
On May 31, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on “International Proposals to Regulate the Internet.”
The Subcommittee discussed a resolution introduced by Rep. Mary Bono Mack [R, CA-45]:
From our Hill Sources:
The first full week of June should see House passage of a few major spending bills for fiscal year 2013, while the Senate is expected to consider farm legislation.
A list of bills that passed in Congress last week and the top bills on POPVOX.
It’s summertime, and the start to the travel and tourism season! In the spirit of the season, POPVOX is spotlighting bills related to travel and tourism. International spending on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services set an all-time record of $153 billion in 2011, an 8.1 percent increase from 2010, and supported an additional 103,000 jobs for a total of 7.6 million industry jobs, according to the White House.
The curtain will soon fall on the 111th Congress and flights out of DC will soon be packed to the gills (though some have already headed ou t, it seems ) . The House and Senate will soon adjourn “ sine die,” or “without day,” and not reconvene until the new Congress starts on January 5, 2011.
What about bills that never came to a vote in the 111th Congress? The slate is wiped clean; there is no business pending. All of the HR numbers and S-numbered titles that have been discussed and debated for the past two year go away. When Congress reconvenes on January 5, the process will start all over again. Bills will be introduced and given a chronological number. Expect a flurry of activity in the first few weeks. In 2009, over 400 bills were introduced on the first day of the Congressional session. (Source http://THOMAS.gov.)
It is not a given that all bills get reintroduced. Some bills from the 111th became part of other legislation and actually became law. Others will need new sponsors. Some will be put on hold for political reasons or just planning-the-calendar reasons.
Will bills have new sponsors? A bill’s sponsorship is a relatively sacred thing in Congress. It is highly unusual for someone to introduce someone else’s bill, with one exception: bills with bipartisan main sponsors will be introduced under the name of the main sponsor of the majority party. So, for example, a Nancy Pelosi/John Boehner jointly-introduced bill would have been the Pelosi bill in the 111th and will be the Boehner bill in the 112th.
What about bills that were sponsored by Members who are not returning? Those bills are essentially orphans, waiting for someone to take them up and commit to introducing them. In some cases, sponsors who know they are not returning will hand over a bill to a colleague to champion and sponsor in future sessions. If that doesn’t happen, it can be a problem for advocates, and a great deal of energy will be spent trying to get a commitment for sponsorship.
Even for bills with returning sponsors, the RE-introduction process can take a while. Most offices plan out their legislative agenda ahead of time, and will want plenty of time to build support and plan a press strategy for reintroduction. Some bills may not be reintroduced for many months, or even until the second session (the second year) of the new Congress. This slow process is frustrating for individuals and organizations trying to build support for a particular issue. The main vehicle for making progress on an issue is showing support in the form of co-sponsorships by other Members of Congress. Organizations rally their lists and volunteers to ask their legislators to sign on to this or that bill. They arrange phone-banking, fly-ins, and district office visits; but all of this needs to be focused around a specific bill.
This is why I am so excited to offer a little teaser of a new POPVOX feature to allow organizations and individuals to build support for bills before reintroduction . Much like Groupon, POPVOX will allow for the demonstration of critical mass of support. Because it’s POPVOX, that support is presented in a way that gets the attention of Congress: publicly, by state and district. This feature will help potential bill sponsors understand the energy a particular bill is generating and potential co-sponsors understand support in their district. For orphan bills, this provides an opportunity for supporters to catch the eye of potential sponsors. For new Members looking for issues to take on, POPVOX provides a metric for those issues that have notable support. For organizations, it is an opportunity to demonstrate real support when making the pitch for reintroduction. Watch for more next week…
Looking to weigh in on the Extension of the Bush Tax Cut (3,790,000 results on Google) or the “ Middle Class Tax Relief ” bill (only 570,000) and having trouble? There is a good reason for that. The bill you are looking for is H.R. 4853 , which was originally entitled “the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010.”
That bill was introduced in March by the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; passed the House on March 17, and was sent to the Senate. The Senate then added an amendment, had a vote, and it passed the Senate on September 23, 2010. Since the same version has to pass both Houses of Congress before it can be signed into law by the President , the amended version had to pass the House again, which it did on December 2, this time with an additional House amendment.
So, at the time that the tax cut deal was being discussed, H.R. 4853 was sitting patiently in the Senate, waiting for a vote.
As discussed earlier , “revenue-raisers” are Constitutionally required to ” originate in the House .” That includes all tax bills. So, when those making the decisions decided that a vote in the Senate should come before a vote in the House, they needed to find a “vehicle” - that is, a House-originated bill, with a House “H.R.” number. H.R. 4853 fit the bill. (pun intended.) The tax provisions were added as an amendment to H.R. 4853. The Senate voted on the whole package on December 15. The bill passed , and was sent yet again to the House for a vote.
The bill that is up for consideration in the House is the “ Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4853 .” That is not a typo.
Want to read the bill? For now, it’s available on THOMAS.gov . (The new language is making its way to the GovTrack API and onto POPVOX as we speak.)
Want to know how things will happen on the House Floor? See the “ Rule ”. This is a resolution that sets the procedure for the vote.
And since you’ve read this far… you really should register your opinion on POPVOX. And if you want to point your friends to do the same, use this short url: http://pvox.co/JyfU1e .
Since that bill has received a lot of attention from POPVOX users, it seemed like a good time to explain exactly what “blue slipping” means. Short version: any bill with a tax has to start in the House of Representatives. Best info: CRS Report from May 10, 2002: “ The Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and Enforcement .”
Article 1 , Section 7 of the Constitution (sometimes referred to as the “Origination Clause”) states, “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” That little sentence is the basis for the formation of the House Committee on Ways and Means , the oldest Congressional committee. (So much so, that a few years ago the “Article 1, Section 7s,” was in the running for the name of the W&M staff softball team… yes, I was a very non-essential/sometimes member of that team.)According to Wikipedia , the origin of the Origination Clause (ha) is with the English parliamentary system, to ensure that the “power of the purse” remained with the House of Commons. The specific clause was part of the Great “ Connecticut Compromise ” of the 1787 Constitutional Convention between big and small states.
In law school, one of the first lessons of statutory construction is that you first look to plain language. When that plain language is not just in a statute, but actually appears in the Constitution, it carries a lot of weight. The U.S. Supreme Court has looked at the issue a few times (see the CRS doc) but has respected the Legislature’s determination of a bill’s origination, indicated by whether the bills has an “H” or “S” prefix. This is why you sometimes get long Senate-initiated bills that “ride” on an unrelated House bill with a House bill number.
Trivia: Do you remember the official name of the TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program” bill? (Hint: “The Bailout” is not right.) Visit GovTrack for the answer.
If a law passes with a “revenue raising measure,” that did not “originate in the House,” it can be “Blue-Slipped” by any House Member (but is usually handled by the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee). The name comes from the piece of paper that is attached to the offending Senate bill and volleyed back across the Capitol.
My own observation is that this is not a partisan question - Ways and Means Members generally defend blue-slipping as their Constitutional duty, whether it affects a bill from their own party or not.
The potential outcomes for S.510 are laid out in the Roll Call article, so I won’t repeat them here. The gist is a complicated endgame for Lame Duck passage.
As Rachna described in her recent post, POPVOX will provide a platform for advocacy and endorsements of bills to continue even after the current Congressional session ends, before these bills are reintroduced in the next session. So, for now, for those for or against, continue to register your opinion on POPVOX. Those comments will be archived, searchable, and publicly available — whether now or in the new Congress next year.
UPDATE: Roll Call reports that on Sunday, December 19, the Senate again voted and passed the Food Safety legislation, this time in House-passed “vehicle,” H.R. 2751 , the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act, which passed the House in June 2009. At the request of Senator Reid, the text of S. 510 replaced the original text of H.R. 2751, and the bill passed by voice vote. It now has to go back to the House for a final vote before it can be signed into law by the President.
