Apparently based on good intentions, certain provisions of this proposed legislation may deserve a May Day! May Day! call.
First, it states its general purpose:
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may award grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19…
but then rushes onto a what could become a slippery slope as to further intentions:
to trace and monitor the contacts of infected individuals, and to support the quarantine of such contacts, through—
(1) mobile health units; and
(2) as necessary, testing individuals and providing individuals with services related to testing and quarantine at their residences.
So far, 59 have co-sponsored the bill, but only one Republican among them, Van Drew (R-NJ), who until this year was a Democrat. For some, the lone Republican is sufficient to refer to it as a “bipartisan” bill. For others, perhaps not.
What is important about Congressional bills is that once passed, the rules and regulations to enforce them are left to bureaucrats to write, not elected officials or the people subject (or subjected) to the final versions.
How, exactly, will the “tracing and monitoring” be accomplished? With the help of patriotic-minded informers; and/or by some device worn by or implanted in the “contacts of infected individuals?”
Some people have innate suspicion of anything numbered triple-6; adding one more 6 gives the bill a bit more “creepy” feeling, especially with its formal title:
Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act
Read the entire bill here, and if so inclined, “trace and monitor” it along the pathway to wherever it may ultimately lead.
Enterprise Extra 