Most of you are familiar with the Schoolhouse Rock propaganda about 'How a Bill Becomes Law."
It's not true, of course. It has little to do with the reality.
...The important part to remember is that the origination of the entire process is EXTERNAL to congress.
Regardless of how much they frame their authorship, congress does not write the laws or legislation, special interest groups do. Lobbyists are paid, some very well paid, to get politicians to go along with the need of the legislative group.
When you are voting for a Congressional Rep or a U.S. Senator you are not voting for a person who will write laws. Your rep only votes on legislation to approve or disapprove of constructs that are written by outside groups and sold to them through lobbyists who work for those outside groups....
Oh, but Congress-slime is actually involved, ya'know.
...Lobbyists then take the specific elements of the law they need adjustment and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.
Within every step of the process there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary financial way-points to generate/leverage a successful outcome. The amount of money spent is proportional to the benefit derived from the outcome....
Next time your Congressman Blowhard shows up in town, ask it for an example of ANY law they, themselves, wrote. Then ask it to prove that they personally wrote it.
"Next question!!" is the response you will get.
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