As Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tries to become the next House speaker, he is negotiating with his opponents on a series of demands that include plum committee positions, campaign spending and making it easier to vote the speaker out if they aren’t happy with the their performance. But there’s another demand that’s not getting as much attention. The demand is to give members at least 72 hours to read a bill before they vote on it.
Some members contend they don’t always have enough time. For instance, the omnibus spending package that will fund the government through September was 4,155 pages long and covered $1.7 trillion. The details of the bill were released at 2 a.m. Tuesday Dec. 20, 2022, and the Senate voted on it Thursday Dec. 22.
Straight Arrow News went to the White House to ask people visiting from around the country: Should members of Congress have to read a bill before they vote on it? Everyone said yes.
Here are some of the answers:
“It’s common sense.”
“Because how can you vote in support a bill if you haven’t read it first?”
“You should know what you’re voting for. You can’t vote blindly.”
Check out their explanations in the video above.
