Lawmakers Demand Time to Read Bills Before Voting on Them

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 9/1/2010 | Tom Gantert

[magslinger]

Let’s make them wait the same amount of time that we have to wait to buy a handgun.

After all, legislation does far more damage than a law abiding citizen buying a handgun can do.

I just thought that should be said again.

[DCBryan1]

IMHO, ANY bill that has even one (1) Rep that states "he/she didn't read it entirely themselves" should be struck down as unconstitutional because it does not represent fair representation of "the people".

I'll go further and state that any bastard that doesn't read the bill entirely should be, at the least, tarred and feathered; preferbally hung as a traitor to the Constitution. /henry bowman rant

[Jim Noble]

Who do they think they are?

Members of the State Duma only need to be able to raise their hands and say “Da”.

Reading should not be necessary.

[Oldpuppymax]

Is it just me, or does it sound just a little STRANGE to be forced to BEG for time to read bills???

[raygun]

What an astonishing concept: public debate by our elected officials with respect to the full text of the bills being debated.

What’s the news headlines lately? The people need to be re-educated about legislation that has been passed.

Oh, but didn’t Empress Pelosi state: “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”

The 1099 issue, for example, buried deep in the ObamaCare legislation, woudn’t have been a sockdolagers jack-in-the-box suprise.

Same thing with respect to Obama’s withholding tax-cut; the fundamental tax-liability wasn’t reduced though. How many Obama-droids were happy with their April tax due this year? How the media trumpeted workers taking home more money each week. Not a peep about the tax tables not being changed. Guess what happens next year? The lowest tax bracket was raised from 10% to 15%. What do you think the deal is for those in some other bracket than the lowest tax bracket?

Oh, no! That’s NOT a 50% tax increase, that’s only 5 pennies per dollar. Look, you make 10,000 whole dollars per year, you can afford an extra $500 tax (you filthy stinkin’ rich money-grubbin’ bastiges). This is only a minor re-write of Two Penny-Jenny’s scheme. Forget the $200,000 soak-the-rich income threshold proclaimed by the media. The new definition of ‘rich’ is anybody with any income whatsoever.

[Beagle8U]

“The Laws passed by Congress should be written in language that the average HighSchool graduate should be able to understand.
They use purposefully obtuse language to build loopholes...”

I'm sure judges will love trying to figure out the intent of bills written in Ebonics and piglatin.

[Texas Eagle]

I’ll do you one better. We need a Constitutional Amendment that says no piece of legislation shall be longer than The Constitution.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I also think that any piece of legislation except tax cuts must have an expiration of 10 years. If it is a good law, then it can be extended for 10 more years. If it is a really good law then it can be extended indefinitely.