Government Transparency: A citizens guide (Part 1)

Every week they take a third of my money, from my paycheck, and I don't even know what they are doing with it!

Quote from:  Anonymous Concerned Citizen

Over the past few years I have often wondered what my congressmen and senators have been doing and how much it is costing me.  I decided that I would have to find out and began searching the internet.  What I found astonished me...

Via the internet I was able to look at bills that were being debated, drafted and signed into law.  I was pleased to find that our government was actually pretty good at placing this information at our finger tips.  With a little practice I was able to read a bill that was coming up and see how much it was going to cost us as tax payers.

Below are instructions, through example, how to look up a bill and see how much it will cost.

Step one:  Find a bill that I wanted to view.

Now some of you will know of a bill, that you want to look at and then again others won't.  By going to http://thomas.loc.gov you will be able to view all bills or search for bills that might interest you.

So in my quick search I found one.  I choose:

H.R.14 : To provide for ocean acidification research and monitoring, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Baird, Brian [WA-3] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (5)
Committees: House Science and Technology
Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

I chose this bill because it isn't controversial...  To most people.  The information provided above is pretty straight forward.  First is the title, then sponsoring representative, committees, and  finally the latest major action.

Using the link provided by the website I am able to view:

SUMMARY AS OF:
1/6/2009--Introduced.

Federal Ocean Acidification Research And Monitoring Act of 2009 or FOARAM Act - Defines "ocean acidification," for this Act, as the decrease in pH of the Earth's oceans and changes in ocean chemistry caused by chemical inputs from the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide.

Requires the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology of the National Science and Technology Council to develop a strategic plan for federal ocean acidification research and monitoring that provides for an assessment of ocean acidification impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems and the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to conserve marine organisms and ecosystems.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to conduct research and monitoring and authorizes the Secretary to establish an ocean acidification program in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) consistent with the strategic research plan, including: (1) providing grants for critical research projects exploring the effects of ocean acidification on ecosystems and the socioeconomic impacts of increased ocean acidification; and (2) incorporating a competitive merit-based process for awarding grants that may be conducted jointly with other participating agencies or under the National Oceanographic Partnership Program.

Requires the National Science Foundation (NSF) director to continue to carry out ocean acidification research supporting competitive, merit-based, peer-reviewed proposals for research and monitoring of ocean acidification and its impacts.

Requires the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to ensure that space-based monitoring assets are used in as productive a manner as possible for monitoring of ocean acidification and its impacts.

And:
ALL ACTIONS:
1/6/2009:

Referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

1/6/2009:

Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.

And finally the driest reading imaginable the text of the bill:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.14:

I hope that you will take some time and go to http://thomas.loc.gov.  There are more than enough bills to look at. You might even have one that you want to look at specifically and this site will help you.

Coming up in part 2 of "Government Transparency: A citizens guide" I will journey into the Congressional Budget Office and find out how much this bill will cost. I will also present links to other sites that can help you traverse this playground of legislation and politics.