Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who developed a close friendship with President Obama when they served together in the Senate, is threatening to have the entire health care bill read on the Senate floor.As I recall Senate rules bills are actually supposed to have three readings before they can be voted on, but Senators routinely waive the reading of the bill. Some GOP Senator, whether Coburn or somebody else, needs to demand the reading and let's have all the Senators sit there and listen to this monstrosity.
Senior Senate Democratic aides had heard Coburn was considering having potentially thousands of pages read aloud in effort to stall passage. “If he did this it would be even outrageous for a guy who’s become known as Dr. No around here,” one of them told POLITICO.
Coburn’s office confirmed that he is indeed thinking about having the bill read.
“That’s a possibility,” Coburn spokesman John Hart said. “He wants to make sure everyone has a chance to read the bill.”
Ed Morrissey adds this:
Works for me.
This could create even more problems for Harry Reid in getting the bill out the door. Unlike in the House, Reid hasn’t been able to do a jam-down on his version of ObamaCare. While a few Democrats still hold out hope for action on the bill by Christmas, some are now setting a target of the State of the Union address at the end of January as more realistic.
If Coburn and other Republicans force floor readings of the bill, that may drift into March or April. If Coburn insists on a floor reading every time the bill gets amended, it may be summertime before they can get around to it. The Senate has other business to conduct, which would interrupt floor readings that would take at least several straight days of floor time to complete for a bill that will run into the thousands of pages. And all it takes is one Senator to withhold the unanimous consent necessary to dispense with floor readings.
In effect, it would allow Coburn to have the bill filibuster itself.
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I'm sure most of those in Congress have not and will not read the entire bill, therefor, for the benefit of the American People the bill should be read out loud in its entire state to the house and also to the senate before any votes are cast. If anyone votes for this monstrosity they then can be held accountable to the voters.
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