John Boehner: Shouldn’t we know what’s in the legislation first?

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10:59 AM Friday, October 16, 2009

Each week, I receive thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls from 8th District constituents. Listening and responding to these concerns is always a top priority for me and my staff.

Over the past year, the stakes in Congress have never been higher. We’ve been debating economic, health care and energy legislation that will impact our nation for years to come. As each piece of legislation is debated, I’ve been hearing from a number of constituents, saying, “Please tell me you are going to read the bill before you vote on it.”

I take these comments seriously. Members of Congress and the American people have the right to carefully review legislation before it is voted on. Democracy depends on informed citizenry and robust debate.

Previous Congresses, including Republican ones, have failed to meet this common-sense standard. But never in history has the failure been more acute than under current Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., particularly over the past nine months. A pork-laden “stimulus” spending bill, a debt-laden budget, a job-killing national energy tax and other bills have been rammed through the House by Speaker Pelosi without even allowing the American people to know what’s in the bills.

A lot of media attention has been given to anger and worry expressed by average Americans over these plans. They have every right to be concerned. Look at the results. We’ve lost more than 2.5 million jobs since the “stimulus” bill passed. Months after the majority in the House passed Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax, we learned of a secret Obama administration analysis showing such a “cap and trade” scheme will raise costs for American families by an average of $1,700 a year.

The debate on the “cap and trade” bill is a perfect example of what has become business as usual in Washington. The fact is no member of Congress read the 1,200-page bill before voting because it wasn’t made available until 10 p.m. the night before it was rammed through the House. And to make matters worse, at 3 a.m. the day of the vote, the majority tacked on an additional 300 pages to this massive controversial bill.

Congress can, and must, do better. In an attempt to call attention to this underhanded tactic and give legislators and the American people a chance to understand the bill, I exercised my privileges as minority bill, giving a rare one-hour speech where I read aloud portions of the bill.

Such extraordinary efforts should not be necessary. That’s why I support the resolution introduced by Reps. John Culberson, R-Texas, and Brian Baird, D-Wash., in June that would change House rules to require all major bills to be posted online publicly for at least 72 hours before they are brought to a vote on the House floor.

Even though 130 Republicans and Democrats have co-sponsored this initiative, Speaker Pelosi has refused to schedule it for a vote on the House floor. To date, 178 lawmakers have signed a petition to discharge this bill from committee — including five rank-and-file Democrats — putting us within 40 signatures of the 218 needed to secure an up-or-down vote on the floor.

Recent polls confirm that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with this proposal. In fact, a Sept. 30 Rasmussen poll found 83 percent of U.S. voters say legislation should be posted online in final form and available for everyone to read before Congress votes.

Americans are fed up with the majority’s tactics to ram-rod legislation before the American people truly understand what they are getting. Our “read the bill” proposal will bring greater accountability and transparency to how Congress spends the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. With a monumental, incredibly complex health care debate looming in Congress, the clock is ticking. Now is the time for real reform.

U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., represents Ohio’s 8th District.

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The Cap and Trade Bill is not good for our country. Just another way of soaking up money from each of us.Yes, I agree with Congressman Boehner that they need to thoroughly read before signing.There is such a terrible movement going on in Washington just silently growing government. What this means to me is lack of freedom.These people have a drive within them to create government that controls everything. I mean everything! Healthcare, food, whatever you do will be under their control! Marxism!

Winford Lainhart
7:24 AM, 10/21/2009

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I hear all this about Obama Kool-aid drinkers, so what do the Republicans drink? If you think Boehner is not part of the corruption of our government then you have to be drinking something. This man has no interest in protecting anyone but himself and his donors. The previous administration was pretty crafty at slipping things into legislation themselves. Face it, neither party can be trusted. Maybe democracy is truly dead.

Boehner is not above board
5:10 PM, 10/20/2009

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THANK YOU----James.

angry vet
2:55 PM, 10/20/2009

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Congressman Boehner is well educated and currently has a higher view of just what this corrupt administration is up to.How can he read the bill when the crafty dems are sneaking in pages?They even add to legislation after it has been voted on.If half of you really understand what a marxist is, you would not be so supportive of this administration. We will be oppressed. We will be controlled in almost every aspect of our lives.Is that what you want? Our soldiers fought for our freedoms. For what?

James H. Hoffman
7:48 AM, 10/20/2009

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Mr. Boehner claims that there is no time to read the bill. How did this man get through college if he couldn't read 1,200 pages in less than 3 days? Also, the bill has been out there a long time, at this point, he would only need to read the amendments, if he had bothered to read it to begin with.

Sounds like more GOP (Get Obama Pronto) tactics. Eight years of let's push it through government and now they actually "care" what's in a bill? What a joke this man is.

No time to read it?
1:33 PM, 10/19/2009

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