By Colin A. Hanna|October 14, 2009
Bipartisan legislation known as the "Read the Bill" resolution would amend the rules of the House of Representatives to require the Internet posting of all nonemergency legislation for 72 hours before it can be considered on the House floor. This is not only necessary; it is common sense.
An overwhelming majority of the American public agrees with the principles of this resolution. A new Zogby poll, commissioned by Let Freedom Ring, found that 91 percent of Americans - overwhelming majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike - want all nonemergency legislation to be posted on the Internet for at least 72 hours before Congress votes on it. Even President Barack Obama agrees; during his campaign, he stated that he would not sign any nonemergency legislation unless it had been posted online for five days to permit the public to read and comment on it.
The August town hall gatherings proved that ordinary citizens can comprehend arcane legislative language, and they can ferret out egregious portions. The American people are persistently aggravated with the way things are done in Washington - and with good reason.
This year, sweeping legislative proposals that could fundamentally restructure our health care system, energy use, economic stimulus spending and vast segments of our overall economy are being debated. Regrettably, neither members of Congress nor the public have been given adequate time to study these major pieces of legislation before they're made law.
Take, for instance, the "cap-and-trade" bill the House recently passed. It is 1,428 pages long and has a price tag of $846 billion, but Congress and the public only had 16.5 hours to read the legislation before it was voted on.
The same thing happened with the stimulus bill and health care reform legislation. There were merely 12 hours available to review the stimulus bill's 1,073 pages, and committee members had only 14 hours and 43 minutes to read the 1,026 pages of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's proposal for health care reform.
Never mind that this is not nearly enough time for the public to review and comment on the bills - there is no feasible way that even well-staffed members of Congress can sufficiently comprehend all of the complexities present in bills that are more than 1,000 pages long in less than 24 hours.
