In 1956 the Federal Highway Act was signed into law creating the Interstate Highway system that today is 47,000 miles long. The bill that created that was 29, that’s not a typo, 29 pages long. Who could not read through a 29 page bill before deciding whether or not to vote for or against?
In this Congress we had a stimulus bill that was over 1,000 pages long, a cap and trade bill that was over 1,000 pages long, and health care reform that is sure to be over 1,000 pages long. Who could possibly read over 3,000 pages of legislation and make any kind of intelligent vote on it. I don’t know about you, but I have read regulatory “prose” and after 10 pages or so, I need to take a walk around and get a cup of coffee, just to clear my head.
Why Are These Bills So Long?
Someone once asked, “Where is the best place to hide a tree?” Answer: “In a forest.” A 1,000 page bill is a very good forest. Arlen Specter just introduced legislation to help tort lawyers make more money from frivolous lawsuits. Consider this:
To show what a loyal tort-lobby servant he is, Mr. Specter has also introduced a bill to let attorneys claim an up-front tax deduction on expenses they incur while building contingency fee cases. Amazing but true: Mr. Specter wants to give a tax cut to sustain the likes of Mel Weiss or Dickie Scruggs in the yachts to which they have become accustomed while they await jackpot jury verdicts. Even Democrats are too embarrassed by this giveaway (estimated cost: $1.6 billion) to pass it as a stand-alone bill, so tort lobbyist Linda Lipsen recently said “we have to tuck it into something” else, such as another “tax vehicle.” {emphasis added}
What better place to hide something like this than a 1,000 page bill? Add to that the URGENCY that everything has to be passed NOW so that for those who want to read the bill to find these stinkers to oppose them there is no time before Nancy Pelosi rams that through.
It seems like it is us against them. They have gotten into power and their top priority is to stay there. Representing us? That ended on election night.
