Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Democrats Don't Want to Read the Bills Before Voting

And they don't want us to read the bills, either. Both parties have been guilty of this in the past. The Republican majority rushed through the controversial Patriot Act in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as well as a massive Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 that added hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit.

But we the public are getting suspicious of Congress and their insistence on secrecy. We vote them to power to pass the laws that affect us and yet they don't want to let us have a peek until it's too late.

Representative Brian Baird (D-WA) said it. "Democrats know politically it's difficult to defend not doing this," he said. "The public gets this. They say we entrust you with the profound responsibility of making decisions that affect our lives, and we expect you to exercise due diligence in carrying out that responsibility."

Baird and Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) are pushing a petition in the House to require that legislation be put online at least 72 hours before debate begins but Democrats are resisting.

Consider these facts:

» House energy and global warming bill, passed June 26, 2009. 1,200 pages. Available online 15 hours before vote.

» $789 billion stimulus bill, passed Feb. 14, 2009. 1,100 pages. Available online 13 hours before debate.

» $700 billion financial sector rescue package, passed Oct. 3, 2008. 169 pages. Available online 29 hours before vote.

» USA Patriot domestic surveillance bill, passed Oct. 23, 2001. Unavailable to the public before debate.

The original article is here.

No comments:

Post a Comment