Things you can do right now on the bailout bill

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From: Sunlight Foundation

Tell Congress to Read the Bailout Bill First!

Today, the Sunlight Foundation is calling on Congress to exercise restraint and increase legislative transparency by posting the next version of the financial bailout legislation online for at least 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote.

We believe all legislation should posted online for at 72 hours before a vote to give lawmakers and citizens sufficient time to review and debate it, and this bill is no exception.

That's why we just created a petition -- http://readthebillfirst.org -- that urges Congress to wait at least until 72 hours after the publication of the next version of this bill, before moving to a vote.

The failure of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008(H.R.3997) on Monday, September 29, 2008, is a case in point. The bill was posted online late Sunday afternoon, and voted on less than 24 hours later.

This isn't a bill to rename a few courthouses; this bill is Congress's biggest intervention in the economy in decades. This important legislation deserved more time for public scrutiny.

Please join us in our call for legislative transparency by signing the petition at http://readthebillfirst.org

You can review and comment on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act on PublicMarkup.org -- http://tinyurl.com/4q3zvn -- too.

Our Party Time site -- http://PoliticalPartyTime.org -- is also doing its part to shine a light on how the financial sector is wining and dining the very lawmakers in Congress who are making the decisions about the most massive proposed bailout of industry in history. Based on the anonymously submitted invitations we've received, we now count 357 parties this year planned for or featuring members of the two crucial committees that are the first stops for considering the administration's $700 billion bailout request for the financial sector. See the full list of parties here: http://tinyurl.com/3htbev.

And be sure to check out our blog post here -- http://tinyurl.com/3lq3d7 -- about the finance industry's investment over the past 18 years attempting to influence Congress. The post includes a very cool interactive graph showing their spending, and a YouTube tutorial video explaining the graph.

Thanks for all that you do,

Gabriela Schneider & the Sunlight team


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