Many people use local check cashing stores to cash pay checks and buy money orders. Money orders are particularly useful when you want to retain some level of privacy when purchasing things like dirty magazines, subversive literature, etc. There are currently two bills in the House that may force these businesses to close. HR 1448 and HR 3235. I don't have the text of these bills, but some of the check cashing stores in my 'hood are asking customers to write their Hon. Misrepresentative immediately and ask them to block these bills. Does anyone have access to the text of these bills? You can get some information on bills via telnet to locis.loc.gov, the Library of Congress Information Service. Here's what I found on those two bills -- it may be possible to get more, if you know how to work the search engine, which I don't. ITEM 1 OF 1 SET 1: BRIEF DISPLAY FILE: C103 (ASCENDING ORDER) 1. H.R.1448: SPON=Rep Fields, C., (Cosp=34); OFFICIAL TITLE: A bill to establish a limit on the fee which certain persons may charge for cashing checks and other instruments, to require despository institutions to cash checks issued by the United States or a State, and to provide that checks drawn by the Federal Government may be mailed only to the personal residence or primary place of business of the payee, to a Federal post office box, or to a federally insured depository institution at which the payee holds an account. ITEM 1 OF 1 SET 2: BRIEF DISPLAY FILE: C103 (ASCENDING ORDER) 1. H.R.3235: SPON=Rep Gonzalez, (Cosp=6); OFFICIAL TITLE: A bill to amend subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, to improve enforcement of antimoney laundering laws, and for other purposes.