Read The What Now?

There is a growing move afoot in Washington DC to require that members of Congress read the bills they vote on.

If you are like House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, you’re probably laughing openly, as any conscientious representative of the people’s business would, at the prospect of politicians reading the bills they vote on.

Next thing you know, they’ll want people to read their mortgages!

Besides, isn’t reading and understanding bills the reason why we have lobbyists?

Known as the “RTBA,” or “Read The Bill Act,” one of the proposals would require lawmakers to sign an affidavit attesting to the fact that they read the bill they’re voting on.

Clearly, this is an overzealous attempt to radically alter the way business is done in Washington.

Take the current Health Care bill that could cost trillions of dollars and touch profoundly the lives of every single American for years if not generations to come.  As Congressman Hoyer put it:

“If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.”

And with something as important as health care, we must not allow the little details to deter us, or as President Obama might put it, we can’t let the coherent be the enemy of the expedient.

Besides, there are far less drastic measures that could be taken short of the draconian requirement that the bills be read in their entirety. 

A few suggested alternatives:

STBA: “Skim The Bill Act” – Congressional representatives would be required to, under penalty of perjury, swear that they personally skimmed the bill in question, or had a staffer read out loud the table of contents.

RTNYTEOOTBA: “Read The New York Times Editorial Opinion Of The Bill Act” – Before any bill could become law, members of Congress would be required to carefully examine the New York Times editorial on the bill, making sure that he or she is fully versed on both the pros and the greater pros of whatever legislation is under consideration.

MLYGTRIBTIHBTWDH2FT37thTIA: “Make Like You’re Going To Read It By Taking It Home But Then Watching Die Hard 2 For the 37th Time Instead Act” – Self explanatory.

Proponents have circulated draft legislation for their “Read The Bill Act” to every member of Congress.  This is clearly a tactical error.  At barely three pages long, the RTBA could easily be read, thus surely dooming it to failure.

If they were really serious they would have created a bill impossibly long to read and with dozens of earmarks favoring powerful interests.

Other supporters of the notion that perhaps lawmakers should read bills are pushing for a law that would require all bills be posted on the internet 72 hours before Congress can vote on them, creating not only the opportunity for legislators to read bills, but for everyday common citizens to as well.

This could be even more dangerous.  Consider what might have happened to the 1400-page Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade bill had people known that it makes it illegal for them to sell their homes without first spending thousands of dollars to upgrade them to meet new energy efficiency standards. Why, people would have rushed to their phones and computers to…

Hey, where is everyone going?...

J.

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