Published: October 09, 2009 04:13 pm      

Ending the rush — 10/11/09

Legislators and people need time to at least read the bills

A bipartisan resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives would give both the elected representatives and the American people time to read the final version of a bill before it is voted on by the entire House. It would eliminate the mad rush to enact bills that House members have not even had time to read and would actively seek public input on the bill’s final version before it is too late.

Yet Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have to date refused to bring the resolution to vote by the entire House, and a discharge resolution that would have forced a vote fell 36 votes short.

House Resolution 554 would require all non-emergency legislation to be posted in its final form on the Internet for at least 72 hours — or three days — before the final vote.

Not only is this an excellent idea for Congress, but the Kentucky General Assembly should approve a similar requirement before a final vote on bills. That would eliminate the final day of the 60- or 30-day sessions of the General Assembly in which individual legislators are asked to vote on dozens of bills — including the two-year state budget — that they have not had time to read.

Voting in ignorance is always dangerous, and members of Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly are shirking their responsibility when they vote for or against a bill they have not even read. Many times legislators have been surprised to discover, after the fact, that a bill they supported includes a controversial provision that they did not even know was in it.

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-4th, one of the sponsors of H.R. 554, provides two excellent examples of why it is needed. He claims Pelosi called for a vote on the massive 1,075-page economic stimulus package just 15 hours after all House members had received a final copy of the bill.

Even worse, Davis says House members did not receive the final copy of the 1,201-page environmental bill — a proposal that could have a tremendous impact on the future of coal and this region — until 3:09 a.m. on the day of the final House vote. That’s absurd. Only speed-reading insomniacs would have had time to even read the bill in its final form. That’s a recipe for bad government.

“Elected representatives cannot do their job properly without the time to read and fully digest the legislation upon which they are voting,” Davis said. “Americans deserve the opportunity to review the legislation and share their views on it with elected representatives before it comes to the House floor.”

Davis is right, of course. Unfortunately, we suspect it often is the intent of legislative leaders — whether they are Republicans or Democrats — to rush bills into law that they know individual members have not had time to even read, much less debate. They have learned through experience that hastily enacting bills is an excellent way of getting their pet projects funded or controversial proposals enacted into law.

There is little question that H.R. 554 would result in both better laws and better informed members of Congress. That alone should be reason enough to approve the resolution. Unfortunately, it is not for those powerful members of Congress who gain from the ignorance of other members and the foolish, unnecessary rush to enact bill into law.

Of course, if the resolution is approved, we already can see a possible loophole that members are likely to use in an attempt to avoid the 72-hour waiting period. It will be interesting to see just how loosely and creatively lawmakers define an “emergency” to rush a bill into law.