The word covfefe has been a joke since President Trump tweeted it in May, but Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois is turning it into something else. Could this bill keep us from living in the past?

Rep. Quigley has proposed the Covfefe Act. The meaning of ‘covfefe’ has been under debate and given many different names since President Trump tweeted it, but now it will stand for something else. The term is an acronym for ‘communications over various feeds electronically for engagement’ - the COVFEFE Act. This bill will amend the Presidential Records Act, giving the public more access by including words like ‘social media’. This would be of great use as it would allow the public to view ALL of the president's documents including deleted posts from social media.

This bill may seem silly since it got its name after a typo, but it could make a difference for the future. By including social media in the act, it will document more of the president's legacy and result in answering questions that the public may have. As Rep. Quigley stated “In order to maintain public trust in government, elected officials must answer for what they do and say; this includes 140 character tweets.” I personally think that this bill is a great idea, even though it may sound a bit silly, I think it is just a way of updating the current bill as technology progresses.

This is not the only notable act that Rep. Quigley has proposed. He also proposed the Mar A Lago act, named after President Trump’s resort in Mar a Lago, Florida. Mar a Lago is an acronym meaning ‘Making Access Records Available to Lead American Openness Act’. This would require that White House visitor logs be public. This was done regularly when Obama was president, but has stopped as we moved into Trump’s presidency. The silliness of the names may make the legislations appear benign, but I think they will bring attention to some things that should be discussed.

The Covfefe act and the Mar A Lago act are both very attention grabbing with their names and I think that is the most important part. The names bring attention to the amendments that would be updating old bills, and not everyone is a fan of changing the past. I see a lot of people who fight against change, and I think these new, updated bills would be a great way to grab people's attention and hopefully highlight the importance of moving on from what was the past.