Change We Can Believe In

In 2008, Barack Hussein Obama, then just a candidate for United States President put forth a "plan to renew America's promise." For $13.95, you can actually buy the book with the plan for the so-called "change we can believe in." If this was real change that America could believe in, and Mr. Obama wanted the American people to truly read and understand his agenda, it might have been a good idea to just post it to the internet where people can download and read it without paying up. After all, there was (and still is) a recession with high unemployment at the time.

The true change that the American people can believe in is the change that future Speaker of the House John Boehner wants to bring to Congress. The Ohio Republican looks to implement major changes that would provide greater transparency and accountability to Congress. Instead of selling a book about the ideas, Mr. Boehner instead tweeted about them today. Some of these amazing ideas are below:

• Constitutional Authority Statements: Every bill would require a "constitutional authority statement" which indicates what section of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact the legislation. This will ensure that Congress does not exert authority that it does not truly have. 

• Posting All Bills and Votes Online: Three days prior to a bill being voted on, it would be posted to the internet so that the American people can read the bill with ease. This would ensure that Congress acts in a transparent manner, giving the American people at a minimum, three days to express their support or outrage over a bill that Congress is considering. There would be no more last-minute bills created behind closed doors and passed without the public having a chance to review the bill. The three day rule would also apply to committees looking at bills. Additionally, committee votes would be posted online, enabling the American people to keep their representatives in check. 

• No Taxes Hikes to Fund Spending: While the two aforementioned rule changes will likely be acceptable to Democrats, those on the far-left won't be happy that raising taxes to pay for new spending and earmarks wouldn't be allowed. Mr. Boehner's proposal is that new spending should be offset by cuts elsewhere. This would ensure the American people would not be faced with a greater gap between government spending and government revenue each year. 

As Mr. Boehner said on 60 Minutes earlier this month, "Washington does not have a revenue problem; Washington has a spending problem." By following the Constitution, embracing transparency, and not simply hiking taxes to pay for new spending, Congress can come closer to solving its spending problems and Congress will better serve the American people.