Steny steps in it

“If every member pledged to not vote for (the health-care reform bill) if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.” - - - Steny Hoyer (D-MD) Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Hoyer actually made the above statement this week (Wednesday, 7/8/09) in an interview with CNSNew.com. Hoyer was actually responding to a question from CNSNews.com as to whether he supported a pledge that asks members of the Congress

* to read the entire bill before voting on it and
* also make the full text of the bill available to the public for 72 hours before a vote.

Yes, he did say that if members read the bill, then they would not vote for it. Was that the strategy used in the 1200+ page Cap and Trade Bill which recently barely squeaked through the Congress at the end of June? Wasn’t that the same tactic used to rush through the porkified stimulus bill? Is that the modus operandi for Democrat-controlled Congressional action?

What has happened to our representative form of government? Don’t we expect our representatives to read those bills on our behalf and to look out for our interests? Isn’t a basic expectation of the American electorate, that our representatives examine each bill to see if there are harmful elements in it, and to amend or reject it if they find something wrong?

Hoyer’s statement was truthful. It might be considered as a gaffe by some (the Democrats), however, others would consider it speaking the truth (the Conservatives).

Hoyer’s statement sheds some light on the inner workings of this insidious and incendiary 111th Congress led by anti-American socialists and radical leftists. There strategy seems to be to pass as much of their evil agenda as possible as quickly as possible. “Why let a good crisis go to waste,” said one of its chief miscreants Rahm Emanuel, the White House’s chief-of-staff.

Here is a video I found on the Let Freedom Ring website that explains more fully the Health Care Reform Pledge and its purpose:



You can read an excellent CNSNews.com article, Democratic Leader Laughs at Idea That House Members Would Actually Read Health-Care Bill Before Voting On It, which along with the 7/9/09 American Family Radio program, AFA Report, served as the primary sources for this post.

TAKE ACTION

Colin Hannah’s Let Freedom Ring organization is circulating a pledge called the “Responsible Health-care Reform Pledge.” By signing the pledge lawmakers commit to reading the entire bill and making it available to the public for three days before they cast their votes.

Here is the email I just sent to my two U.S. Senators:

Dear Senator ______________ -

I would urge you to sign the Responsible Healthcare Reform Pledge(http://www.letfreedomringusa.com/downloads/healthcare_reform_pledge.pdf), which states two things:

(1) that you as senator would not sign any Healthcare Reform Bill that you did not read in its entirety

(2) that you would refuse to sign any healthcare reform bill that your constituents had not had at least 72 hours to read for themselves on-line.

This is a very simple, straightforward, and reasonable request and I would urge you to download and sign the pledge.