The Brevity Act: Time for a 28th Amendment

Full post (here).

Therefore, I am respectfully proposing a 28th Amendment to our Constitution. I call it the Brevity Act.

No law, bill, resolution or any act of Congress shall exceed 2000 words, including all footnotes, amendments and signatures. Congress shall not vote on any item longer than that. Each item requiring a vote shall be read aloud in its entirety in session to a majority of members. Those not in attendance may not vote on the item.

2000 words is about 5 single spaced pages in a 12 point Word document. If it’s longer than that, then it’s too complicated to be a single law or bill, so it must either be cut or turned into multiple bills, each requiring a separate vote.

Furthermore, a Brevity Act should be part of every State Constitution, County Charter and City Charter.

To those who would oppose this Act because it would require Legislatures to vote separately on every single item in the budget, I say, it’s about time!