Travel to Cuba, Flat Tax, Cell Phone Photo Noise, Dying on Wrong Date, Double Decker Horse Transport & College Football Bowls/Playoffs: Feb 27, 2009

Here are several bills from the past two weeks that have peaked my interest and will likely be controversial.

This first bill would allow travel between US and Cuba:

By Mr. DORGAN (D-ND) (for himself, Mr. ENZI (R-WY), Mr. LUGAR (R-IN), and Mr. DODD (D-CT)):

S. 428. A bill to allow travel between the United States and Cuba; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.


This second bill would create a flat tax alternative for paying income tax:

By Mr. BURGESS (R-TX):

H.R. 1040. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide taxpayers a flat tax alternative to the current income tax system; to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.


Here is a bill building off the paranoia of the digital age (most of the paranoia is deserved) - which requires cell phones to make noises when they take photos:

By Mr. KING (R-NY):
H.R. 414. A bill to require mobile phones containing digital cameras to make a sound when a photograph is taken; to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.


This next bill is an odd one that can potentially cost folks who die on the wrong day of the month. I wonder why the PA Congressmen jumped on this piece of legislation.:

By Mr. HOLDEN (D-PA) (for himself and Mr. PLATTS (R-PA)):

H.R. 954. A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide that a monthly insurance benefit thereunder shall be paid for the month in which the recipient dies, subject to a reduction of 50 percent if the recipient dies during the first 15 days of such month, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Ways and Means.


Ahhh, yes, the ole' double decker horse transport bill:

By Mr. KIRK (R-IL) (for himself, Mr. COHEN (D-TN), and Mr. WHITFIELD (R-KY)):
H.R. 305. A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit the transportation of horses in interstate transportation in a motor vehicle containing 2 or more levels stacked on top of one another; to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.


For those of us who are college football fans, these next two are devoted to college football playoffs/bowl games:

By Mr. BARTON (R-TX) (for himself, Mr. RUSH (D-IL), and Mr. MCCAUL (R-TX)):
H.R. 390. A bill to prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship game unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system; to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.


Got to love pushing for playoff system in college football:

By Mr. GARY G. MILLER (R-CA):
H.R. 599. A bill to prohibit the receipt of Federal funds by any institution of higher education with a football team that participates in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, unless the national championship game of such Subdivision is the culmination of a playoff system; to the Committee on Education and Labor.