I'm going to tell you a story. This story will start at the end and work back to the beginning. It's a story about the One Subject at a Time Act - OSTA for short.
OSTA is a bill created by Jim Babka and Perry Willis of Agenda Setters by Downsize DC. OSTA has been introduced in the Senate, as well as in the House with several co-sponsors.
I believe it will eventually change the course of American politics and governance.
How the story ends
A crisis is underway. Congressional leaders have always exploited crises by passing huge spending bills. They'd cram it full of pork and cronyism. None of it is related to the crisis.
This is what they did with dramatic events like 9/11, the housing bubble, and COVID-19. But now, they're stuck.
If they attempt to use their old tricks, if they combine their crisis bill with pork and cronyism, the courts will overturn their spending bill for violating the one subject requirements imposed by OSTA.
OSTA has sucked the joy out of being a Congressional leader
House and Senate majority leaders can no longer pass unpopular measures by "clustering" them with sure-to-pass bills. Each proposal must now stand or fall on its own merits.
And this is no weak sauce rule. We all know Congress doesn't follow its own rules. That's why OSTA is a law, instead of an internal rule that can be waived. In fact, any bill passed in violation of this requirement gets thrown out of court.
That means fewer bad bills pass. It also means that government growth has slowed dramatically.
How did this come about?
OSTA passed!
But wait, how could that have happened? Congressional leaders control what comes to a vote. Why would they ever let something like OSTA see the light of day? Turns out they had no choice, because...
Congressional supporters used a discharge petition
Whenever a bill is sponsored by a majority of members a “discharge petition” can be used to force a vote, even if congressional leaders object. That's what happened with OSTA.
Why did a congressional majority agree to sponsor OSTA?
Two answers
Answer 1: OSTA makes rank-and-file members of Congress more powerful
Congressional leaders are famously called “the cardinals.” Anything that makes the cardinals less powerful tends to empower rank-and-file members. In this case, these back-benchers...
1. They were tired of being presented with huge bills clustered with unrelated proposals - bills they were afraid to oppose that were stuffed with things they hated.
2. They were frustrated by the opposition's campaign ads. These ads reported votes for measures they'd normally reject.
For instance, many politicians are afraid to oppose military spending bills. That's why congressional leaders routinely load unrelated proposals into the annual National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). Rank-and-file members would prefer to vote on those extra measures one by one. OSTA allows them to do that.
That's one reason why a majority in Congress sponsored OSTA. But there's also a second reason.
Answer 2: "The 300" exerted relentless face-to-face pressure on congressional offices.
Prior to Agenda Setters, only special interests sent lobbyists to congressional offices.
You changed that!
You helped recruit teams of 300 Agenda Setters (citizen lobbyists) in each district.
These teams started visiting LOCAL congressional offices in groups of 3, 5, or 6 people, week after week, insisting that their reps co-sponsor OSTA. These visits did three things:
They kept OSTA on the minds of congressional staffers, despite the constant distraction of other issues.
They demonstrated intense local support for OSTA.
They sent a clear and continuing message that OSTA was not going to go away.
Indeed, the only way members of Congress could make the visits stop was to sponsor the bill.
Lobbying by The 300 got results. Some representatives sponsored the bill after just one meeting. Others took longer. But each new sponsor sent two powerful messages to the politicians who were still sitting on the sideline...
OSTA is viable
There's safety in numbers.
Remember, many rank-and-file members of Congress saw value in OSTA anyway. It was a no-brainer to join the team.
Having 300 people in your district is just the beginning.
Sign-up to be one of The 300 and I'll send you a list of studies showing that 30-60 million Americans already either self-identify as Libertarians or hold mostly Libertarian views on the issues. Finding and activating 300 people, in your district, is just the first down payment on mobilizing millions of these people. Please join us!
Visit https://downsizedc.org/act/one-subject-at-a-time-act-2/# to be one of the 300.
I look forward to having you on the team.