On the recordSeptember 29, 2010
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have the greatest respect for Chairman Clay and for Congressman Braley. I think their goals and intentions, the stated objective is admirable. It is laudable. It's something I'm sure we can all agree with. We should be writing in plain, clear language. There are two challenges. The thing that just makes me smile about this is that this language was put together. It passed in the House. It goes over to the Senate. The Senate comes back and says your definition of plain language is not clear. In fact, they came back--and this is what it says right in the bill that they sent back to us, the term, quote, plain writing, end quote, means writing that is clear, and then it continues on. This is not necessarily going to solve the problem. This is not going to solve the problem. And yet in a time of record budget deficits, we're 13-plus trillion dollars in debt. We're spending $5- to $600 million a day just in interest on that debt. This bill suggests and authorizes that we're going to authorize $50 million over the next 10 years, $50 million to say, Go write in plain language. Well, let's be plain and let's be clear. We've got a debt crisis in this country. That's plain. It is clear. We all understand it. Our Federal Government should not be spending $50 million over 10 years directing agencies to say, Write more plain, clear language.…





