Profligate Congress needs to read its own bills

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Profligate Congress needs to read its own bills
By: BYRON YORK
Chief Political Correspondent
October 11, 2010

There’s a scene in “Fahrenheit 911,” left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore’s mostly forgotten 2004 tirade against George W. Bush, that some of today’s unhappy voters might recognize.

Moore was angry that Congress passed the Patriot Act so quickly that some lawmakers hadn’t read the whole bill. So Moore went to Democratic Rep. John Conyers for an explanation.

“How could Congress pass this Patriot Act without even reading it?” Moore asked.

“Sit down, my son,” Conyers said, lowering his voice as if to reveal a trade secret. “We don’t read most of the bills. Do you really know what that would entail, if we were to read every bill that we passed?”

Years have passed, and we’re in a completely different political environment today. But there is still no single complaint about Congress that resonates more with voters than the charge that lawmakers do not read the bills they vote on. How can they enact far-reaching legislation that touches almost every part of American life without even knowing what they’re passing?

“Imagine if you went into your doctor and you’re sent to a specialist and they don’t even look at your chart or talk to you,” says Rob Steele, a Michigan cardiologist who is challenging longtime Democratic Rep. John Dingell. “That’s what is going on. They’re not reading the bills, and they’re not representing the people.”

[Stella]

I had never thought about term limits before Obama and his forces took over the White House. The arrogance displayed by Congress is breath taking as evidenced by this article. They are passing bills that affect every single one of us without reading the bills and knowing the impact of what they are doing. If the bills are so complicated, them maybe they should simplify them and break them down into different bills. That HCR bill is filled with things that will paralyze the country and keep it down economically, yet, they passed it without most of it being written.

 

I would vote for term limits in a nanosecond. Even our GOP representatives get complacent and don't have a clue how the common folks live.