Should lawmakers be required to read the text of the laws they are voting on?

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Phil M

New member
It is my opinion that all Fed. Lawmakers should have to read the entire bill before they vote to enact any new law. What say you?
 
Yeppers,

And the laws should be written in normal speek too...in detail so it is understandable what exactly the lawmakers are wanting to achieve with the new law. That way, fewer thing need to go to a judge for 'interpretations'.

And there should be a limit to the number of 'amendments' that are attached to a bill.
 
Some of these bills are so long and complicated that it would take far too much of a lawmakers time to read it. That is why they have staff that can summarize it for them - i.e. "Cliff's Notes". This means that they also have to hire staff which they fully trust to weed out the most critical issues from a bill.

If the lawmaker doesn't at least read those summaries, then there is something seriously wrong.
 
There are also groups like the CBO who are supposed to summarize the effects of bills. But as to it taking too long to read personally, I don't see anything wrong with SLOWING down the rate at which they pass laws lol.
 
But taking more time to pass laws would allow the opposing party to gain time to mount an effective defense. We can't have that ! :xangel: Of course, I will change my mind about that once my party (Democrats) eventually become the opposition party again...
 
All kidding aside, I personally would prefer the parties to actually talk to each other and base their decisions on facts and actual debate instead of, essentially, flaming. However, that is the ideal world - a world we don't live in. At least we are not like the Japanese parliament where politicians occasionally come to blows, or the British parliament where they send occasionally clever insults at each other but, heck, that would at least be more fun to watch.

Either way, so far, the Republican party is the party that has veared farther away from centrist politics but now, there are factions on the left that want to have more of a say - vearing the Democrats farther left than they have been. I think that US politics would fare better if both parties remained closer to the center - where it seems that most US opinion lingers.
 
DUHHHHH!!! Just the fact that such a question neeRAB to be asked shows how seriously damaged this generation of lawmakers is, and the state of our nation when it is revealed that they don't even try to hide their incompetence for fear of being voted out by this inept electorate which doesn't yet appear outraged by these poor excuses for representatives of the people.
 
But the problem is that they HABITUALLY pass bills without reading them. (lol, perhaps murder is legal now and we just don't know it)
 
As I am running for the U.S. Senate out of CA, I would agree, as I cannot in good conscious vote on something I have not studied in detail.

And I would appoint my staff, to help me do so.. and break it down... paragraph by paragraph... and then debate it in Congress.

-Mosheh Thezion
 
Of course! If they pass a bill that they have not even read, then how do they know what to establish? What if the bill had a small addendum that legalizes all murder? They would not know! They would just implement the stuff that they want. Everyone knew whethere or not the bill had a public option! They just did not bother to read the rest!:xgood:
 
It is simply amazing that the people we elect to REPRESENT us will fight tooth and nail for passage of a bill they have not read much less understand. Can anyone defend voting on someone elses opinions. The hurry to just pass anything is not a reasonable answer. Honest review, debate, and consideration is the only way to make correct progress.

Somewhere along the way our politicians have twisted the intended stucture of our government. I don't care what a politicians personel views are and noone else should either. We elect them to take OUR views to Washington and vote the way the majority of their constituants believe.
 
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