WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 WashingtonWatchObama
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Of the three federal
legislators in the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is the most
prolific legislator as far as bills introduced, but the least successful at
getting them passed. None of the 59 bills he has introduced in the current
Congress have become law.
A full list of bills introduced by Senator Obama in the 110th Congress can
be found on the WashingtonWatch.com blog at
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/blog
Senator Obama has had successes as a legislator, of course. In the
government transparency movement (of which WashingtonWatch.com is a part),
there is a great deal of fondness for the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2006 (aka the Coburn-Obama bill). Passed in the 109th
Congress, it created a federal government Web site that reveals where all that
federal spending goes. A follow-on in the current Congress is S. 3077, The
Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.
Senator Obama's recent bills reflect a focus on energy issues and health
care and benefits for military veterans, though he has bills in a wide variety
of areas.
One or two are of particular interest. S. 2433, The Global Poverty Act of
2007, is probably the most controversial. It would require the President to
develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce global poverty, but
many believe it would do much more.
The statement of purpose for an Obama bill called S. 976, The Genomics and
Personalized Medicine Act of 2007, makes some exaggerated claims about what it
will do, winning it membership in WashingtonWatch.com's "And a Pony" club.
WashingtonWatch.com uses government predictions about the costs or savings
from proposed laws to calculate the significance to average Americans - in
dollars and cents - of proposed changes to the nation's policies. More
information about these calculations is available on the "about" page of the
Web site.
SOURCE WashingtonWatch.com
