21 December 2020

How much pork can you hide in 5,593 pages?

Plenty, I would think. 
The House released the text of a massive 5,593-page package of legislation that combines pandemic relief with a bill to fund government operations just hours before lawmakers were set to cast their votes...

“We’re going to stay here until we finish tonight,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters earlier at the Capitol.

Lawmakers from both parties complained about the push to vote with such little time to digest the contents of the sprawling piece of legislation. 
It’s not good enough to hear about what’s in the bill. Members of Congress need to see & read the bills we are expected to vote on,” Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. 
Does anyone not agree with AOC in this regard?  You can bet there will be special tax exemptions that will apply to corporations located in X county in Y state conducting Z business.  This is the pig trough that has been filled with our tax dollars for generations.


Also: to emphasize how outrageously ridiculous this bill is, you have Republican Senator Ted Cruz agreeing with AOC:
“It’s ABSURD to have a $2.5 trillion spending bill negotiated in secret and then—hours later—demand an up-or-down vote on a bill nobody has had time to read,” he tweeted on Monday.

7 comments:

  1. I'm a Republican and fully agree with what AOC has said here.

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  2. I agree, it's a pretty nonpartisan stance to want our representatives to be informed before agreeing to legislation.

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  3. I thought we'd have to pass it to find out what's in it?
    Independent and in agreement with both the Republican and the Democrat here :)

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  4. Clearly the swamp has not been drained.

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  5. Legislative detente. Nobody knows anything. So, nobody is to blame?

    Also: with technology as good as it is: why they can't create easier to read and see which legislator has amended what language? They baffle through the arcane.

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    1. "see which legislator has amended what language...'

      That is a brilliant suggestion - like marking up a shared Google doc.

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    2. That would defeat the purpose of having it so arcane. Part of it is institutional procrastination, part is 'tradition,' the rest is criminal.

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