Congress considers some oddball bills

>>> here's a proposition. make, sometimes, it's actually a good thing congress can't seem to get anything done. there are now more than 20 bills being considered by lawmakers that buzzbeat.com says will blow your mind or ridiculous. joining me is the website editor bennie johnson. good to see you.

>> good to see you.

>> one of the bills you mentioned is congressional payback to america. any money left in the representational allowance at the end of the year would go towards debt reduction?

>> i have to thank my editors at buzz feed for this great story line . it's just a few days old. this congress is just a few days old so here's the specifics of this particular bill. it says it's going to earmark the money that they don't use for their congressional expenditures. every congressman gets around $2 million a year to spend on their offices and their budgets. and right now, all that go to the treasury to do whatever it wants. so this bill earmarks all of what they're doingnd says now, this taxpayers dollars needs to be used toe pay down the deficit. and the treasury can't do anything else with so you're earmarking the already earmarked earmark money.

>> that goes it out to constituents that they promised they had would reduce the deficit. i can't believe these aren't laws already. a bill that drug task force officers need to be screened for drugs. and another that the government should be required to tell me if my food comes from land which contains sewage sludge?

>> i just want to seat packaging on that kind of food. is it going to have a sewer grate on top of the chicken that you're buying? and some of these things seem so common sense. some of these things seem so nuanced. they're current bills being considered by committees in congress. any congressman can enlist any bill that he want at anytime they want which is why is he wii have freedom fries and freedom toast in the house cap tearia for three years. a lot of these things don't become laws but still considered by congress.

>> two bills that involve cuba , we're talking baseball and cigars.

>> yeah, we have a longstanding embargo with cuba . this started with the kennedy administration .

>> yes.

>> mind-blowing aspect of this bill it would essentially make cuba open for business. that that would be changing a six-year policy. united states to have zero trade with cuba . it would really change the dynamics of the region. this would be very mind-blowing because we could all go to havana now. and if you're into mlb, there would be --

>> major league baseball for nonsports fans out there.

>> -- into major league baseball . proposed by a yankees fan, jose serrano , a congressman here in new york, that says it's going to make the limitations less to bring in mlb players from cuba . so right now, if you're a good baseball player in cuba , you have to defect and move to another country before the mlb will consider you. and the department of treasury, back to the department of treasury has to approve of you coming to the mlb, even if you're a cuban.

>> and finally, there's this bill being proposed that would stop the treasury from actually making a trillion-dollar platinum coin to pay its bills. and it would be something that, even economist paul krugman and other people have signed. there's a petition with more than 6,000 signatures. i want to play for you some reaction to this idea.

>> this whole coin business doesn't deal with the debt and deficit issue and it does not make it go away.

>> basically, you would need a solid platinum 747 aircraft to have $1 trillion worth of platinum.

>> so what are the chances this is going to pass?

>> i don't know. i'm not sure which president is going to get his face on the trillion-dollar aircraft plane.

>> last night, it was suggested justin bieber as a possible face. i don't know why.

>> it just shows you where congress is going right now. they're having to take some drastic measures . this is certainly one of the most drastic. it's being proposed by greg walden , a republican who obviously thinks it's a bad idea. there's plenty of humerus bills in congress. i'm sure they'll keep us entertained.

>> ben e. johnson from buzz