S.A. Zobans
Independence
To the editor:
Congress passing 1,000-plus-page laws without first reading them sounds like a “crisis in representative government.” That’s like doing surgery on a patient whom no one has examined.
Whatever politicians may claim their bill will fix can be a far cry from what its final version delivers. Unless and until lawmakers take time to read and analyze bills before they vote on them, no one knows what kind of so-called remedy will result from the hundreds of pages of legalese detail or pork in the bill. It may instead end up costing too much, solving too little and making matters worse than no bill at all.
Considering the novel ways the few words of the First Amendment have been interpreted by our courts, a thousand pages of law can easily morph into strange new unexpected forms when applied by legalists in the real world. Laws need careful pondering before they are voted on since they can have such great cost and staying power.
A worthwhile plan to improve health care or energy should be preceded by Congress overhauling the way they vote on bills. Not reading a thousand-page bill before passing it is a crisis in lawmaking that can be worse than the alleged crisis the bill aims to cure.
