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Coburn to force reading of health bill

By Eric Zimmermann - 11/17/09 11:43 AM ET

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) says he will make sure the entire healthcare bill is read out loud on the Senate floor before debate can proceed.

Though the final Senate bill hasn't been revealed yet, the House version spanned almost 2,000 pages. The Senate bill is likely to be at least 1,000 pages.

It would take the Senate clerk at least a few days to complete the task.

Democrats hope to take up the bill by Friday. But if Coburn follows through on his threat, a motion to proceed could be delayed until next week.

"The American people are going to get to hear this bill," Coburn told reporters Monday night.

Under Senate rules, any senator can demand that a bill be read before debate. Republicans, however, would have to stay on the floor the entire time to object to Democratic motions to stop the reading.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/68107-coburn-to-force-reading-of-health-bill
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Comments (33)

Why is it that the senators have to be the ones who follow through on Obama's pledge to post all legislation on line before it is voted on. In the House, Pelosi said that their bill would not be posted on line, in direct contradiction to what Obama said would happen. Has the msm even bothered to issue a single negative comment about that? The hypocrisy of our elected officials gets more revolting every day.BY dave on 11/17/2009 at 12:25
Not exactly constructive, no matter what side you're on.BY Mike P. on 11/17/2009 at 12:28
Its a better alternative to it passing right away in either caseBY Sam on 11/17/2009 at 12:36
Seeing as Republicans and DINOs who oppose the Bill neither have read this is a good idea but there needs to be a rule for the reading.Any Republican or DINO that leaves the room during the reading for any reason heart attack, bathroom, sleep, food or falls asleep the reading will be considered complete and voting would begin immediately.If they want a reading; they all need to be there and awake to hear every word.BY Donaldd on 11/17/2009 at 12:43
The Hill's reporter has his facts wrong. A senator can demand that a bill be read, but the clerk only has to read each title of the bill. However, a senator does have the unilateral right to demand the full reading of any and all amendments offered. Since Reid's "bill" will be an amendment to the underlying House bill, Coburn will actually force the reading of Reid's amendment.BY Fritz Sillypants on 11/17/2009 at 12:51
So dondaldd, you would prefer that the senators vote on a bill that they have not read? I will expand on your sentiment and say that ALL dems need to be present in chambers so that they mught actually learn what is contained in the bill.BY dave on 11/17/2009 at 13:36
Good for you Sen.Coburn. Anything to help slow and stop this extremist legislation is welcome by the vast majority of Americans.BY Taxpayer on 11/17/2009 at 13:43
Dave—— it's been rigorously debated for months. Any Senator who doesn't know what's in the bill has had their fingers in their ears, yelling "Lalalalala!" at the top of their lungs, waggling their feet lying to their constituents. What they'll gain by hearing 400 hours of legal-ese ("Article 4 sub-clause 3.6.4.2 Upon the merits of subclause 3.6.4.1 we hereby waive the statute 4 of stipulation B"…) is beyond me. Any Senator waiting for THAT to make their decision is, by any other name, a robot.BY Honest Abe on 11/17/2009 at 13:45
If they wrote a halfway decent reform bill instead of this monstrosity of political payoffs and power grabs, they wouldn't have to worry about spending hours reading the content.BY Lucy on 11/17/2009 at 14:13
@ABE, Are you sure? Do you know what the bills says about the public option? The cutoff for the tax on Cadillac plans? Whether the threshhold on the trial ballon Medicar tax is indexed for inflation or whether the tax is included at all? The tactic is clearly to delay to bring to light a whole host of "minor" issues for people to get upset about. That said, if you aren't willing to give people time to read the details, you ought to expect this type of behavior from people who are likely to find the details (at least some of them) objectionableBY SteveinCH on 11/17/2009 at 14:13

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