👀 I’m Just a Bill#
A pilot project of the Political Expedition Council#
“I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill, and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
— Schoolhouse Rock 1975
The Schoolhouse Rock cartoon ended in 1975. We’re putting it back — with a verification standard, a 30-Crown Council that crosses every line we’ve drawn, and the kind of plain-language explanation the original cartoon couldn’t do at modern legislative scale.
How it works#
- Real bills. Every Bounty Poster covers a real bill currently in (or recently through) the U.S. Congress.
- Plain language. What is it? What does it actually do? Who votes when? How does it affect ordinary families?
- Cooperative composition. Each poster identifies which Liana Banyan Initiatives the bill structurally affects.
- Shirley Temple Truth Score. Every poster carries a vetting status. 🟡 Provisional = drafted but not yet Council-vetted. 🟢 Verified = 16 of 30 active Council members agreed it meets the standard.
30 Bounty Posters (BP039 launch batch)#
Federal economy + reconciliation#
Social Security + retirement + aging#
Voting + civic#
Safety + protection#
Food + agriculture#
Education + workforce#
Healthcare#
Workplace + family#
Veterans#
Manufacturing + infrastructure#
Privacy + technology#
Housing#
The Council that vets these#
The 30-member Political Expedition Council represents the full cross-section of American public life. See the Council Charter for governance details.
Each Crown letter is published on Cephas at crown-initiative/. When 16 of 30 active Council members agree on a Bounty Poster’s accuracy, the 🟢 Verified badge goes up.
Why “I’m Just a Bill”#
The original Schoolhouse Rock cartoon assumed:
- Citizens have time to read legislation
- Bills are written in language non-lawyers can parse
- Public-facing civic information is non-partisan and trustworthy
None of those assumptions hold anymore. The cartoon ended in 1975 because somebody decided kids didn’t need to know how a bill becomes a vote anymore. We’re putting that back.
With the verification standard, with the Council that crosses every line, with the transparency the original cartoon couldn’t match.
Not Left. Not Right. Forward.
Help Each Other Help Ourselves.
👀 Foster Youth Tax Credit Foster youth tax credit 119th Congress: refundable credit for current/former foster youth aging out · transition-to-independence support. Composes with Save-the-World Paper 12 + Federal Juvenile Justice + #5 Family Table. 🟡 Provisional. Help Each Other Help Ourselves.
👀 Funeral Cost Transparency What Federal funeral cost transparency in the 119th Congress modernizing the FTC Funeral Rule for online and at-need price-disclosure.
What it does Online price-list requirement · package-decomposition standards · FTC enforcement modernization · cooperative-class funeral-services provisions. Composes #5 The Family Table (end-of-life Trust Graph) · Older Americans Act Reauthorization.
🟡 Provisional. Help Each Other Help Ourselves.
👀 I’m Just a Bill — Hearing and Vision Medicare A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? Medicare hearing and vision coverage expansion in the 119th Congress. Standard Medicare excludes hearing aids, hearing-aid exams, eyeglasses, and routine vision care.
What does it actually do? Medicare hearing-aid coverage (typically every 5 years) Hearing-exam coverage Eyeglass coverage (one pair every 2 years) Routine vision-care coverage Provider-supply provisions to address current OTC-hearing-aid market How does this affect cooperative-class families? Composes with #5 The Family Table (older-adult sensory-care impacts caregiver coordination) and #7 MSA (hearing/vision Substitution at participating providers).
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👀 I’m Just a Bill — Immigration Court Reform A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? Immigration court reform in the 119th Congress addressing the documented immigration-court backlog (~3.7M+ pending cases) and structural concerns about immigration-court independence (currently within DOJ rather than independent).
What does it actually do? Article I court structure proposal (immigration courts independent of DOJ) Backlog-reduction funding Counsel-availability provisions for unaccompanied minors Procedural-fairness reforms How does this affect cooperative-class families? The cooperative does not endorse positions on immigration-policy bills. The Council exists to provide accurate plain-language explanation. Concrete impact: many cooperative-class members have family members in immigration proceedings; court-backlog and procedural-fairness affect daily life for those families.
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👀 I’m Just a Bill — Indian Health Service Modernization A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? Indian Health Service (IHS) modernization in the 119th Congress addressing chronic IHS underfunding (~50% of healthcare-need-based funding levels per documented HHS reports).
What does it actually do? Advance appropriations for IHS (multi-year funding stability) Tribal Self-Governance expansion (more 638-contracted services) Workforce recruitment + retention programs Facilities modernization funding Mental and behavioral health expansion How does this affect cooperative-class families? Composes with #6 Tatiana Schlossberg Health Accords Tribal-sovereignty composing layer, #7 MSA for cooperative-class supplemental capital pooling, and the Native American Self-Determination Act Amendments Bounty Poster.
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👀 I’m Just a Bill — Inflation Reduction Act Amendments A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? A series of 119th Congress proposals to amend, extend, or roll back specific provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), particularly its clean-energy tax credits and manufacturing incentives.
What does it actually do? Clean energy tax credits: Modifications to wind/solar/battery production tax credits (PTC) and investment tax credits (ITC). Manufacturing incentives: Domestic-content requirements for clean-energy components. Methane fee: Implementation modifications for oil-and-gas methane emissions fees. EV credits: Eligibility rules for the $7,500 new-EV credit and used-EV credit. Drug pricing: Implementation of Medicare drug-price-negotiation provisions. Who votes when? Various committees, 119th Congress: Active markup Multiple vehicles: May be bundled into reconciliation or appropriations President: Signature dependent on which provisions reach desk How does this affect cooperative-class families? Energy costs: IRA clean-energy tax credits affect home solar payback periods and EV affordability for middle-class members. Manufacturing tax credits: Composes with #16 Brass Tacks reshoring infrastructure and the cooperative’s Step 4 Node manufacturing network. Drug pricing: Composes with #7 MSA member healthcare-cost transparency. Shirley Temple Truth Score 🟡 Provisional — Council vote pending.
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👀 IRS Direct File Expansion IRS Direct File codification + expansion 119th Congress: free federal tax filing tool · state-tax integration · cooperative-class member-account integration. Composes with EITC Expansion + Child Tax Credit + Open Letter to IRS. 🟡 Provisional. Help Each Other Help Ourselves.
👀 LIHEAP Expansion Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program expansion 119th Congress: funding parity with documented need · cooling assistance expansion · weatherization composing. Composes with Save-the-World Paper 2 (Energy) + Renewable Energy PTC/ITC. 🟡 Provisional. Help Each Other Help Ourselves.
👀 I’m Just a Bill — Lower Costs, More Transparency Act A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? Healthcare-cost transparency and Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform legislation in the 119th Congress. Focuses on hospital-price transparency, PBM transparency, and direct-to-consumer drug pricing.
What does it actually do? Hospital price transparency: Strengthens existing CMS price-transparency rules; adds enforcement. PBM transparency: Requires PBMs to disclose rebate structures and pass-through pricing arrangements. Drug coupons: Modifies Medicare/Medicaid treatment of manufacturer drug coupons. Site-neutral payments: Adjusts Medicare payment differentials between hospital-outpatient and physician-office settings for the same procedures. PBM reform: Specific provisions limiting PBM “spread pricing” and clawback practices. Who votes when? House Energy & Commerce + Ways & Means + Senate Finance + HELP active consideration. How does this affect cooperative-class families? Composes directly with three cooperative-healthcare initiatives:
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👀 I’m Just a Bill — Medicaid Expansion Incentive A Liana Banyan “I’m Just a Bill” Bounty Poster What is this bill? Federal incentive legislation in the 119th Congress to encourage the ~10 remaining non-expansion states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act framework.
What does it actually do? Federal match enhancement — temporary higher federal match for newly-expanding states Direct federal-marketplace option — for states that decline expansion, enables federal-marketplace Medicaid-equivalent coverage Coverage-gap closure — addresses the ~2-4 million Americans who fall in the coverage gap (too much income for state Medicaid; too little for ACA subsidies) Provider rate provisions — supports rural-hospital sustainability in expansion contexts Who votes when? House Energy and Commerce + Senate Finance active consideration How does this affect cooperative-class families? Composes with #6 Tatiana Schlossberg Health Accords + #7 MSA. Cooperative-class members in non-expansion states currently fall in the coverage gap most acutely; this legislation directly addresses that gap.
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