General Discussion

Well said. Citizens need a simple, well-publicized way to access that information.

Journalists also should routinely put the exact names and numbers of bills in published news reports, so that we can follow up on them in the public record. So often I see news stories that reference "a bill" going through Congress, but the description is so vague that it takes significant work to actually figure out which bill it is and find information about it beyond what's in the article. We often hear about promised legislation, or threatened legislation, and then we never hear about it again.

And you're right; even if you do have that information, finding information can be ridiculously confusing and non-intuitive. I believe the difficulty in navigation is absolutely deliberate. I think your idea of making websites that make it easy to follow legislation is fantastic and sorely needed. Publicize it, and bring people into the process. Just as people in this country are not taught economics, there's significant effort devoted to making sure that the nuts and bolts of the political process seem remote, complex, and arcane to most people. That's a problem, and it serves the oligarchs.