Open Congress : pmotch's actions

Voted Nay on: H.R.5882: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2013

2012-06-05T00:19:53Z

Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes.
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Wrote a letter to Congress titled 'H.R.5882 Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes.'

2012-06-05T00:06:08Z

I am writing as your constituent in the 5th Congressional district of Minnesota. I oppose H.R.5882 - Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes., and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability. Congress is lagging far behind current standards on data transparency, and I believe this lack of transparency makes corruption easier, public participation more difficult, and generally limits accountability for the people we elect to make our laws. Specifically, I'm asking for all the data that is published on THOMAS to be made available for download so that citizens and web developers looking to use this public information can do so without having to visit thousands of individual websites. This simple improvement in how Congress handles its data is necessary if progress is to be made on using the web to improve the democratic process in America. The potential for positive social change in open government data can hardly be overestimated. This is one of the key structural, democratic reforms of our time, and handling data that belongs to the public according to the standards of the most ubiquitous public communications platform (i.e. the internet) is just the proper thing for our public officials to do.

Wrote a letter to Congress titled 'Legislative rules and procedure'

2012-05-10T00:16:30Z

I am writing as your constituent in the 5th Congressional district of Minnesota. I am writing to ask you to pass legislation requiring all public legislative databases to be published online and in bulk. Congress is lagging far behind current standards on data transparency, and I believe this lack of transparency makes corruption easier, public participation more difficult, and generally limits accountability for the people we elect to make our laws. Specifically, I'm asking for all the data that is published on THOMAS to be made available for download so that citizens and web developers looking to use this public information can do so without having to visit thousands of individual websites. This simple improvement in how Congress handles its data is necessary if progress is to be made on using the web to improve the democratic process in America. The potential for positive social change in open government data can hardly be overestimated. This is one of the key structural, democratic reforms of our time, and handling data that belongs to the public according to the standards of the most ubiquitous public communications platform (i.e. the internet) is just the proper thing for our public officials to do. Please work to ensure that language mandating the Library of Congress to publish the legislative data on THOMAS in bulk is included in the 2013 Legislative Appropriations bill.

Wrote a letter to Congress titled 'S.968 PROTECT IP Act of 2011'

2012-01-18T21:30:25Z

I am writing as your constituent in the 5th Congressional district of Minnesota. I oppose S.968 - PROTECT IP Act of 2011, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability. The bill allows government and corporate takedowns of full websites over a single link, thereby violating constitutional free speech protections for internet users that follow the law. Personal online security would suffer a major setback under the bill because the leading Domain Name System security project, DNSSEC, would be made illegal. New liabilities and legal uncertainties caused by the bill would restrict start-up growth in the technology sector and limit job growth in one of the most important areas of the U.S. economy. Sincerely, Dan Cundiff

Wrote a letter to Congress titled 'H.R.3261 Stop Online Piracy Act'

2011-11-14T23:13:28Z

I am writing as your constituent in the 5th Congressional district of Minnesota. I oppose H.R.3261 - Stop Online Piracy Act, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.

Voted Nay on: H.R.3261: Stop Online Piracy Act

2011-11-14T23:10:59Z

To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.
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Voted Aye on: H.Res.365

2011-09-19T23:30:23Z

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should cut the United States' true debt burden by reducing home mortgage balances, forgiving student loans, and bringing down overall personal debt.
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Voted Nay on: H.R.822: National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011

2011-09-19T23:29:25Z

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a national standard in accordance with which nonresidents of a State may carry concealed firearms in the State.
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Gave Sen. Amy Klobuchar D-MN a 90% Approval Rating

2011-09-19T23:25:52Z

Sen. Amy Klobuchar D-MN

Voted Nay on: H.R.1249: America Invents Act

2011-09-19T23:24:22Z

To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform.
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Voted Aye on: S.940: Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act

2011-09-19T23:23:37Z

A bill to reduce the Federal budget deficit by closing big oil tax loopholes, and for other purposes.
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Voted Nay on: H.R.1076

2011-03-16T16:12:54Z

To prohibit Federal funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content.
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Voted Aye on: S.3454: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

2010-12-09T10:01:11Z

An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
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Gave Sen. Alan Franken D-MN a 100% Approval Rating

2009-12-12T12:37:06Z

Sen. Alan Franken D-MN

Voted Nay on: H.J.Res.74

2008-02-18T09:53:06Z

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.
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Gave Christopher Dodd D- a 100% Approval Rating

2008-01-14T17:37:17Z

Christopher Dodd D-

Gave Brad Ellsworth D- a 60% Approval Rating

2008-01-14T17:35:09Z

Brad Ellsworth D-

Gave Evan Bayh D- a 90% Approval Rating

2008-01-14T17:29:19Z

Evan Bayh D-

Tracking Evan Bayh D-

2008-01-14T17:29:08Z

View profile for Evan Bayh D-

Tracking Pres. Barack Obama D-

2008-01-14T17:28:07Z

View profile for Pres. Barack Obama D-

Voted Aye on: S.2433: Global Poverty Act of 2007

2008-01-14T17:27:17Z

A bill to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.
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