Direction For America Undersatnd the Facts about pending legislation!

Direction For America

Understand what your Representatives are Working on

Phase Two - Implemented after Voter Information Portal


What Is 'Direction For America'?

Direction For America is a tool to help citizens to understand the facts about proposed legislation which has not yet become law, and provide a mechanism to debate the merits of potential legislation. First we need to know the facts; then we can debate if the proposed legislation is good or bad.


Implemented during Phase Two

The Direction For America will be implemented after the Voter Information Portal is complete and operating well. Our target date is to launch this section following the 2012 presidential election.



The Way this will Work:

Identify Desired Subject Area of New Legislation

The voter will be able to select various subject areas in a variety of different ways, all focused on making it easy for the voter to locate the legislation he/she is interested in. Some of the search capabilities will include:

  • By National, State or Both;
  • By Committee;
  • By Sponsoring Representative;
  • By Cost to Implement;
  • -- What else would you like to see? --

Drill Down for More Information on Proposed Legislation

For each issue (proposed new legislation) the voter will be able to drill down and get more information. This information will include:

  • Summary of the proposed law;
  • Benefits/drawbacks of the law;
  • Financial Impact;
  • Statements from Proponents/Opponents;
  • Drill Down into the text of the law
    • Summary of the entire proposed law;
    • Summary of each section;
    • Summary of each sub-section;
    • Summary of each paragraph;
    • Actual text of the law to verify the paragraph summary;
  • Provide the complete text of the law without summaries.
  • -- What else would you like to see? --

Debate this Legislation

Provide a mechanism for individuals to comment on the proposed legislation on a section by section basis, or on the legislation as a whole. Amendments which are pork and not part of the spirit of the legislation can be identified by voters as "Amendments which should be dropped", with the reasons why. Voters will be able to email their representative regarding their opinion, and the representative will be able to reference both their constituents comments as well as all other comments regarding this proposed legislation.

What Else Should Be Included?

Please share your ideas for this tool. What is missing? What else would you like to see? How can we best facilitate debate regarding proposed legislation? Should we remove comments from people who are foul and not participating in constructive debate? If so, how should we decide if a comment should be removed? Your ideas are important, please share them.