The FY 2021 omnibus spending bill was released to the public on Monday afternoon (21), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) organized a vote in the House and Senate that evening. However, the practice was criticized by some lawmakers.
The bill was voted on in both the House and Senate six hours after it was released. But this does not mean that legislators are more satisfied with the bill; rather, it shows that legislators refuse to act as responsible stewards of the taxpayer.
The nearly 5,600-page spending bill contains a $2.3 trillion budget, including a $900 billion “stimulus package” for Communist Party viral relief. But for some of its provisions, like the well-known $600 check to most Americans, and many others, lawmakers simply didn’t have time to read them. Billions of dollars of these funds are intended for aid to Asia and Africa.
The bill, which has more words than the Bible, was voted on and passed almost as soon as it was released. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, was relentless in his attack on the madness, noting that powerful people spent more time compiling a massive behind-the-scenes spending “deal” than taking a real vote.
“I asked for a vote and voted against it, we can’t do this in secret, the American people are working hard and members of Congress should do the job that Americans sent us here to do.” Roe said.
Rep. Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican, tweeted, “Sorry Speaker Pelosi, I’d actually like to read the bill before I vote on it.” He added that it would take much longer to read the bill than the six hours given by Congress, which is completely irresponsible.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, tweeted that the bill is 5,593 pages, or 1,398,250 words if there are 250 words per page. If members of Congress read it on average at the U.S. average of 300 words per minute (a big assumption), it would probably be read in 4,660 minutes or 77.68 hours (if there were no breaks).
Paul writes: “I guess the ‘big boys’ on both sides will pass it, and no one will actually read it. That’s not me, I voted against it.”
The absurdity of Congress even brought Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a radical Democrat who has long proclaimed socialism, into line with conservatives, who also slammed the bill on Twitter, noting that as of about 1 p.m. that day, lawmakers hadn’t even been given the text of the bill.
“It’s not enough to hear about the bill, members of Congress need to see and read the bill we are expected to vote on.” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “I know it’s ‘controversial’ and I’m having trouble sharing that, but the people of this country deserve to know that they deserve a better bill.”
In signing the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill, President Trump warned Congress, “I’m never going to sign another bill like this one. I’m not going to do it again, where nobody reads it, it’s only been a few hours, and some people don’t even know what’s written in it.” But now, Congress has gone back to its old ways.
As Politico 18 reported, congressional leaders are preparing the second-largest federal bailout in U.S. history, and no one has seen it yet until days before it will be voted on. Members of Congress and the American public simply cannot fully understand the many important policy provisions and spending contained in the bill. The disappointing voting process has resulted in largely disappointing legislation.
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