Steny Hoyer in Stitches over Unread Bills

by jhersh

Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:10 AM EDT

The House Democrats walked a fine line recently when they rammed through the cap and trade bill at the end of June, after transparency had been promised from this administration. The bill clocked in at just over 1,000 pages and a three hundred page amendment was dropped in at around 3am on the day of the final vote.

It did not go unnoticed. Republican Leader John Boehner stood up for an hour, reading some of the most puzzling and ridiculous passages in the bill that not a single member of Congress had read.

Many Democrats are now anxious to get health care reform on the books before they break for recess in August. Responding to the length of the health care bill, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) laughed, saying:

“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.”

Readthebill.org enables you to contact your representative about this very issue. It would require that legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 hours before consideration by the House.

Also, feel free to call Steny Hoyer’s office to ask why he thinks it’s funny that no member of the House will even know what’s in the health care bill at the time of passage. (202) 225-4131.