NOW IS THE TIME TO REDISTRIBUTE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

(RE: S. CON. RES. 35)

Now is the time for all good Representatives and Senators to ensure that they have enough copies of the U.S. Constitution so that they (and their staff) know what fundamental basis they are working for.

At least that’s the way Senate Concurrence Resolution 35 (which was created in concurrence with the House of Representatives) wants every watchdog following the actions of Congress to believe. Apparently, the members of both houses in Congress are more patriotic these days and they want to ensure that their staff and their constituents are as well. Following is the corroborative text to this Resolution:

In addition to the usual number, there shall be printed the lesser of—
(1) 551,000 copies of the document, of which 441,000 copies shall be for
the use of the House of Representatives, 100,000 copies shall be for
the use of the Senate, and 10,000 copies shall be for the use of the
Joint Committee on Printing; or
(2) such number of copies of the document as does not exceed a total
production and printing cost of $218,379, with distribution to be
allocated in the same proportion as described in paragraph (1),
except that in no case shall the number of copies be less than 1 per Member of Congress.

Passed the Senate July 24, 2009.

I don’t want to bust their “bubble”, but the National Center for Constitutional Studies (www.nccs.net) and the Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org) have been selling pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution, which also includes the Declaration of Independence, at bulk prices which are less than what you see in this resolution. I’m sure that they would be willing to sell this mass order to the Congressional Members at an even better deal. Enough levity; now for the real questions we should ask:
1. Why this recent interest in carrying pocket copies of the Constitution so that We, the People know that they care about the rules and laws as derived from the Constitution (or at least they should be)?! Particularly, why now?
2. What benefit does the Senate and the House gain by passing this resolution? History has repeatedly shown that key members of both houses don’t sponsor bills unless they “profit” in some way.

Well, I believe the “proof is in the pudding”. This S. Con. Res. 35 was sponsored by Charles Shumer (NY), referred to the House Administration Committee, passed the committee vote, referred to the Senate and passed the Senate vote by Unanimous Consent on July 24, 2009; all of this in one day. Now this Resolution has been referred to the House for vote. However, keep in mind that debate may be taking place on a companion resolution in the House, rather than on this particular resolution. Now how could We, the People be against any bill being processed thru the House that also contains this patriotic gesture? It’s simple; keep up with S. Con. Res. 35 (try tracking with www.govtrack.us ) and see which legislation this is attached to. The top “dogs” of both houses will use this “patriotic gesture” to appease some voting members in order to get a very expensive legislative matter passed on Capitol Hill. You heard it here first. But, what do I know; I’m just an American Patriot.