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Sen. Tom Coburn

Earlier this week Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn confirmed that he is considering having the entire health care bill read aloud on the Senate floor, presumably in an effort to stall its passage (read the story from Politico here). Wow, that certainly sounds like a jerk move from a Republican senator who doesn’t want this health care reform to pass, doesn’t it? Like always we should take the inflammatory elements (like Sen. Coburn) out of the story and examine the facts.

Reading the thousands of pages of health care legislation aloud on the floor of the senate is a tactic, but is it appropriate? Senator Coburn’s spokesman John Hart said, “He wants to make sure everyone has a chance to read the bill.” One Senior Senate Democratic aide said, “If he did this it would be even outrageous for a guy who’s become known as Dr. No around here.” So where does the truth lie? I don’t really think Senator Coburn’s true motives are “making sure everyone has a chance to read the bill”, but does he make a point? This is some of the most important legislation to be considered in the last 50 years, and the people voting on it, the people who have the power to change the lives of most Americans must have read it, right? They wouldn’t vote on a bill of this importance without knowing what’s in it (as Senator Coburn suggests), would they?

A Rasmussen poll taken before the final House legislation was released earlier this week showed that only 22% of U.S. voters believe that most members of Congress will understand what’s in the plan before they vote on it, and 53% believed it wasn’t very likely/not likely at all that they  would even read it (see the poll here). What?!? Why in the heck are we voting for these people if we don’t think they’re even reading/understanding the bills that they’re voting on! (Sorry, I’ve digressed).

If the American people are correct, and our Representatives aren’t reading the legislation put before them, then I hope Senator Coburn does make them read it on the floor, just to stick it to them. As for the people referring to this tactic as “outrageous”, I would ask, is it outrageous to know what’s in a bill before you vote on it? These things aren’t available in book-on-tape form, and considering the stakes, this isn’t the type of book report you want to cheat on, so I say, “bore them to tears Tom Coburn, and be ready to whack them with your ruler if they start to doze off”.

If you’d like tell Tom Coburn what you think, click here.

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