Why We Need 72 Hours to Read Legislation, and How You Can Help

Whoever said, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” never went to Congress.

Sometime this year, perhaps very soon, both chambers in Congress likely will be asked to vote on a monumental healthcare bill — monumental in its scope, its cost, and the actual number of pages in the legislation.

And while many important questions about the final draft of the bill remain, here’s one that most Americans are shocked we even have to ask: “Will members of Congress be given enough time to read and understand the bill before casting a vote?”

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The answer, based on prior behavior, is “probably not.”

Earlier this year, members, the public, and press were given 12 hours to review the 1,073-page long stimulus bill that cost future generations of Americans (since we’re borrowing just about everything at this point) $787 billion. Not a single member I talked to read it before the vote. I doubt Evelyn Wood could have even pulled it off.

The cap and trade bill, which would cost $846 billion and weighs in at 1,428 pages, was available for 16.5 hours before the House vote.

But this isn’t a partisan problem: under Republican rule in 2003, for example, the 852-page Medicare Part D bill was available for 29 hours before a vote was called on the $395 billion legislation.

It happens more often than anyone would like to admit. According to the Sunlight Foundation, this year alone transparency rules have been waived at least two dozen times to rush legislation to the floor.

So here’s that pesky question again: Will Speaker Pelosi give members of Congress — and the press and public, for that matter — enough time to read and understand the bill before voting on it?

To ensure that the answer to that question is, “Yes,” I have launched a discharge petition to bring a vote on H. Res. 554, which was authored by my good friend and partner in this fight, Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.). H. Res. 554 simply requires a waiting period of at least 72 hours before any legislation could be voted on in the House.

H. Res. 554 has been bottled up in committee for months and the majority has no plans to bring it to the floor for an up-or-down vote.

That means the only way we can force a vote on it and bring some transparency to the peoples’ house is through a discharge petition.

Here’s how it works: to force an up-or-down vote, we need 218 signatures from members of Congress on the petition. As of this writing, we have 182 bipartisan signatures. That leaves us 36 signatures short of bringing real change to how the House conducts its business.

You can follow the progress here. Find out if your representative has signed the discharge petition.

All we’re asking for is 72 hours to actually figure out what’s in these important bills before a vote. The waiting period isn’t solely an exercise for members of Congress. The public and press have a right to know what’s buried in these bills too. Under H. Res. 554, all bills would be required to be posted in a searchable format online.

After all, transparency is the antiseptic to a flawed legislative process. We’re not asking for much. Three days. That’s all.

All we need are 36 more signatures. Go to www.wethepeoplecanread.org to find out where your member of Congress stands on this commonsense issue, and help us shine a little light on Congress.