Even if they gave up all dinners, they wouldn't have time to review and understand everything they vote on. *WE* have let the Fed'l gov't into so many areas of our lives that they couldn't possible read and understand the tens of thousands of pages of legislation. What one person is an expert on telecommunications regulation, transportation, food labelling, medical care, social programs, ecology, corporate regulation, etc.?
We're at the mercy of invisible Hill staffers with agendas we don't even know. They write the legislation, and our elected folk pass it.
Until we pare the scope of the Fed'l gov't, this is what we will have to live with.