As the new Congress gets moving and we approach the inauguration of the new president, I’m starting to see more and more rather interesting political news come across the wire.

First, It would appear that Congress is going to be considering a National Reciprocity bill this session.  Not sure how far this will get, but here’s hoping it gets through.  Here’s the NRA’s pitch for it:

NRA Backs Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill in U.S. House

Bill Would Eliminate Confusing Patchwork of State Laws

Fairfax, Va.— On behalf of its five-million members, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) applauded the introduction of H.R. 38, TheConcealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, authored by Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-8). This legislation would eliminate the confusing patchwork of state carry laws by allowing individuals who possess concealed carry permits from their home state or who are not prohibited from carrying concealed in their home state to exercise those rights in any other state that does not prohibit concealed carry.

“The current patchwork of state and local laws is confusing for even the most conscientious and well-informed concealed carry permit holders. This confusion often leads to law-abiding gun owners running afoul of the law when they exercise their right to self-protection while traveling or temporarily living away from home,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA. “Congressman Hudson’s legislation provides a much needed solution to a real problem for law-abiding gun owners.”

This legislation would not override state laws governing the time, place or manner of carriage or establish national standards for concealed carry. Individual state gun laws would still be respected. If under federal law a person is prohibited from carrying a firearm, they will continue to be prohibited from doing so under this bill.

“Law-abiding citizens should be able to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense while traveling across state lines,” continued Cox. “This is an extremely important issue to our members and we thank Congressman Hudson for leading the fight to protect our rights,” concluded Cox.

Next, the Senate is considering a proposed constitutional amendment that would impose term limits on senators and representatives.  While there are good arguments supporting allowing good public servants to serve as long as their constituents want to keep re-electing them, unfortunately the Congress has practically become a job you can keep as long as you want it.

‘‘ARTICLE—

‘‘SECTION 1. No person who has served 3 terms as a Representative shall be eligible for election to the House of Representatives. For purposes of this section, the election of a person to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives shall be included as 1 term in determining the number of terms that such person has served as a Representative if the person fills the vacancy for more than 1 year.

‘‘SECTION 2. No person who has served 2 terms as a Senator shall be eligible for election or appointment to the Senate. For purposes of this section, the election or appointment of a person to fill a vacancy in the Senate shall be included as 1 term in determining the number of terms that such person has served as a Senator if the person fills the vacancy for more than 3 years.

‘‘SECTION 3. No term beginning before the date of the ratification of this article shall be taken into account in determining eligibility for election or appointment under this article.’’.

Finally, my Congressman has re-introduced legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.  No matter what you think about how money flows in our government and the rest of the country, I hope we can agree that sunshine would make the process a lot easier to swallow and might just make things better.

U.S. Representative Massie Reintroduces Bill to Audit the Federal Reserve

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Thomas Massie reintroduced H.R. 24, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2017, also known as “Audit the Fed.” The bipartisan bill would require the Comptroller General to conduct a full examination of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks.

“The American public deserves more insight into the practices of the Federal Reserve,” Massie said. “Behind closed doors, the Fed crafts monetary policy that will continue to devalue our currency, slow economic growth, and make life harder for the poor and middle class.”

“No institution holds more power over the future of the American economy and the value of our savings than the Federal Reserve, yet Fed Chair Yellen refuses to be fully accountable to the people’s representatives,” said Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who introduced companion legislation, S. 16, in the U.S. Senate. “The U.S. House has responded to the American people by passing Audit the Fed multiple times, and President-elect Trump has stated his support for an audit. Let’s send him the bill this Congress.”

Former Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), who has long championed this cause, originally introduced the bill in 2009.

Massie concluded, “It is time to force the Federal Reserve to operate by the same standards of transparency and accountability to the taxpayers that we should demand of all government agencies.”

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2017 was introduced with 44 bipartisan original cosponsors. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), passed an identical version of the bill, which had 201 cosponsors, in May 2016, marking an important step toward getting the bill to the House floor for a vote.