Sponsor: Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
This bill has been among THOMAS's top 10 since August 30, despite having received little attention in Congress. The Debt Free America Act aims to eliminate the $13 trillion national debt within seven years by levying a 1 percent tax on all financial and retail transactions, except for those involving stock. The bill would also repeal the individual income tax as of December 31, 2017, and create a bipartisan task force that would make recommendations about how to limit federal spending. Fattah's legislation was introduced in February 2010 and immediately referred to committee, with no action taken on it since. However, the proposal has generated outrage in the blogosphere at the idea of a tax on transactions. The bill has been discussed on a wide range of websites, from minor political blogs to the popular myth-debunking site Snopes.com
6. Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 5712)
Not on list last week
Sponsor: Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI)
Congress passed this bill to extend until the end of December the existing Medicare physician payment rates, which would have expired on November 30. If not passed, doctors would have faced the scheduled 23 percent cut in their reimbursements from Medicare. Lawmakers are currently working on a deal to further extend these rates.
7. Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 3081)
Previous ranking: 7
Sponsor: Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)
Congress hasn't yet passed spending bills to fund the government for the new fiscal year, which began on October 1. So they passed this temporary appropriations bill before they went on recess so that federal programs and offices could operate until they pass the full spending bills. Passing a FY 2011 budget, or at least another appropriations bill to fund the government until the 112th Congress can address the budget, is one of the chief tasks of the lame-duck Congress. [See who contributes the most to Lowey.]
8. Safe FEAST Act of 2009 (H.R. 1332)
Not on list last week
Sponsor: Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)
The Safe FEAST Act is the House food safety overhaul bill. In the wake of recent massive recalls of food items like peanuts, spinach, and eggs, Congress is pushing for greater government power and oversight authority in the area of food safety. The Safe FEAST Act would give the Health and Human Services Department the authority to suspend food facilities' registrations and order recalls. It would also allow the Secretary to allocate resources for the inspection of domestic food production facilities, as well as ports of entry for foreign food. Though this particular bill has seen little action since its March 2009 introduction, a similar bill passed the Senate on November 30.
9. Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 (H.R. 45)
Previous ranking: 4
Sponsor: Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Named after a Chicago teen who was gunned down in 2007 on a public bus, this act would tighten gun ownership provisions in the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, a 1993 law that mandated background checks on gun buyers. The Blair Holt act would require anyone possessing a firearm to first obtain a firearm license. The bill was introduced at the start of 2009 and has remained in the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security since February of that year. [See who in Congress gets the most from gun control groups.]
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