Frank Salvato, Managing Editor

Reading Legislation...It’s Your Job!

July 31, 2009

It would appear that some of our elected officials – oh heck, let’s say most of our elected officials – believe it isn’t necessary to read legislation before voting on it. A perfect example of this is playing out right now in Congress with regard to the healthcare legislation where several high-ranking elected officials have unabashedly stated that expecting elected officials to read legislation, in its entirety, before voting on it, is to expect too much. Really...

Recently, at a National Press Club Luncheon, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said:

“I love these members who stand up and say, ‘Read the bill!’. What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and...and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?â€