Sponsored and Co-Sponsored Bills by Congressman Billy Long by the Numbers

Yesterday, my friend Jim Lee was challenged by the News-Leader when he sent an opinion piece in hopes it would be printed. Lee wrote:

On April 19, 2011, Billy Long was asked, "Are senior programs on the chopping block?"]

His reply: "When I ran for congress, I said, 'we have to honor our commitment to our seniors,' and that's exactly what I plan to do and that's exactly what we're going to work on in Washington D.C."

Long's actions don't match his words.

Interestingly enough, the head of the editorial staff Don Underwood at the News-Leader challenged Lee's short opinion piece.

Could you be more specific in regards to Rep. Long's actions?

I would point out that he introduced a bill that would prioritize payments with S.S. and other similar programs receiving payments in the event of a default.


Lee called me up yesterday asking me if I was aware of any bill like this that Billy Long sponsored. I pulled my Android out and opened the Congress app. Long had only sponsored two bills, one for National Auctioneer Day and the other is a transportation bill. There wasn't any bill that protects Social Security even in the long list of 149 co-sponsored bills, which is an interesting list that shows once again Long isn't fed up of the status quo as there are bills that grow government, bills for pet projects like fraternity and sorority infrastructure improvements, and lot of your wasting your constituents' time bills like commemorative coins and National Auctioneer Day bills.

Underwood's response without any factual evidence on either the Congress App and OpenCongress.org once again gives me the feeling the News-Leader, which endorsed Long, is protecting Long. It's clearly motivated by advertising dollars as two of Billy Long's companies are major advertisers. Remember, Bob Kollmeier, Billy Long's agriculture liaison in Washington, is also running the auction house, and Long still owns a 1/3 share in the largest real estate business in town. Both these businesses rely heavily on advertising in the News-Leader.

Once in a while, the News-Leader does print something because of public pressure that shows Long in a bad light. For instance, we learned from an HR-607 story that Long wasn't reading the bills he co-sponsors.

…when asked about the provision in the bill that would sell off the frequency used by amateur radio operators, Long said that was news to him. He said he co-sponsored the bill because [Peter] King, the homeland security chairman, asked him to and because the bill is supported by many organizations that are committed to public safety, something he values.



A look at Billy Long's activity in Washington shows Billy has been a busy boy attaching his name to lots of bills. In just over six months time, Long has sponsored two bills, both inspired by special interest money, and he has co-sponsored 149 bills.

Now, last year during the general election, while flipping through the channels, one of the morning guys at KWTO said the first bill Billy plans to introduce is a bill that would require each Congressman to read the bill before they vote on it. Obviously, Billy didn't deliver on that one, and as you can see above, reported by the News-Leader, he didn't read the bill before he co-sponsored it. The bill was only 25 pages long.

So considering Long's need to put his name on a whole lot of bills, I began to wonder how many pages of new laws has Long co-sponsored. Has he read them all?

Total pages for sponsored bills: 2, Long obviously doesn't put a lot of thought in what he introduces.

Total pages of co-sponsored bills: 1,619

Now, when you consider all the legislation Congressman Long has already voted on, over 870 votes, how in the heck can Billy Long responsibly read the legislation he votes on and co-sponsor as many bills with the full understanding of the impact they have upon his constituents.

He can't.