If you want to keep your eyes on the 111th Congress, the Internet has some prime websites to help you do it. Just be warned: working many of these sites takes time and effort. Thousands of bills are introduced in every Congress. Ninety percent of them promptly turn up their little toes and die, but the remaining ten percent wend a long and tortuous path through the various committees. Occasionally a bill even gets passed – usually as a few paragraphs in a large “omnibus” bill that combines dozens of smaller bills. And that’s why mastering legislative details takes work.

LEARN ABOUT LEGISLATION FROM THOMAS

     In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, THOMAS brings you legislative information from the Library of Congress. It is the best source of information on legislation before the Congress. Here you’ll find accurate and extensive information on all legislation since 1973. You can search for bills according to topic, congressional sponsor, or bill number. (Identical bills will have different numbers in the House and Senate. Logically enough, House bills start with an H.R., and Senate bills have an S. prefix.)

http://thomas.loc.gov/

WHERE YOUR STIMULUS MONEY IS GOING

     In February, 2009, Congress passed a $787 billion stimulus bill, the American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009. Where is the money going? RECOVERY.GOV says it will tell you. They say, "This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent. Learn what steps we're taking to ensure you can track our progress every step of the way."

     $144 billion is for state and local governments, to keep them from laying off as many workers as they otherwise would during this budget crunch. That being the case, you may want to check periodically to see how your state and local governments are handling their share.

http://www.recovery.gov/

EARMARK WATCH

     The “evil” earmarks you hear so much about are an effort to keep projects from being weeded out in the committee process. An earmark is, at the last minute, quietly slid into another bill – usually an omnibus bill with hundreds of pages – that is moving swiftly through Congress. Frequently no one notices the earmark is in there, or, if they do notice, they don’t care. If the earmark is for, say, dredging a harbor, and you live next to that harbor and your brother works there, you probably think that earmark is a wonderful thing. Whereas, if you live a thousand miles inland, you probably think dredging that harbor is a waste of taxpayers’ money. It all depends on who’s lookin’.

     When I visited EARMARK WATCH, they only had 2008 earmarks, and all the legislation that didn’t get passed in 2008 went down the toilet at the end of the 110th Congress in December, 2008. In 2009 we got a fresh start with the 111th Congress, with all-new legislation, which, at the time I looked, didn’t have any earmarks yet. But it will! So keep an eye on this site. Pretty soon there should be a whole new crop of earmarks from the 111th Congress.

http://earmarkwatch.org/

OPENSECRETS.ORG

     OPEN SECRETS tells you how to “follow the money.” Because U.S. law requires financial disclosure for legislators and candidates for office, OPEN SECRETS can give you the fundraising profiles of all House members and senators. You can see the size and source of their contributions, the industries and interest groups that support them, where the money came from geographically, and much more. Now you can even find out who paid for the trips they take, and, if you go to the “Get Local” section, you can put in your zip code and find out who in your area has contributed to a certain candidate and how much. Prepare to be astonished at the amounts.

http://www.opensecrets.org/

WHERE DO YOUR TAX DOLLARS GO?

     Click on your state, and up comes a chart. The chart tells how your tax dollars were spent back in 2007, but I expect 2008 tax dollars were spent in a very similar way. And I suspect you will be surprised at what the chart says.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/taxday2008

CONGRESSPEDIA

     CONGRESSPEDIA is a nonpartisan site for SERIOUS students of the American legislative process – and it’s a site you can add to, if you have serious nonpartisan information on the activities of the Congress.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congresspedia

INSANELY USEFUL SITES

     INSANELY USEFUL SITES, for anyone who wants to find out what’s REALLY going on in the U.S. government, from the SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION. If you’re willing to do the work, they’ll give you the hidden facts.

http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/resources