Dems hire speed reader for climate change bill
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/20/art.waxman0520.gi.jpg caption="Democrat Henry Waxman is trying to get his party's massive climate change bill out of his committee by Memorial Day."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) – As Congress prepares for a weeklong recess next week, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have armed themselves with a special weapon to deal with a possible Republican effort to delay getting a major piece of legislation out of committee by Memorial Day.
Democrats on the committee have hired a speed reader to read the more than 900-page climate change bill if necessary.
A request to have the entire bill read aloud is a prerogative Republicans have a right to invoke which could be used to frustrate Committee Chairman Henry Waxman's deadline of Memorial Day to get the committee's work on the bill done.
Even with the use of the speed reader, reading the entire bill could take the equivalent of more than a full work day of time.
–CNN Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.
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The guy who requests for this must also sit alert for the entire 9 hours.
Enough with these childish games. I say throw out congress and let's elect a new one...
simple; Republicans....hire someone to "Delay," the speedreader from arriving on time.....
Isn't that the guy who used to do the micro-machine commercials in the 90's. I can't even imagine trying to speed read all of the legal language in a bill like this allowed, It would make for a great recording though.
Do they not realize that "speed reading" is an impossibility? Reading Research (psycholinguistic processes) disproved so-called speed reading decades ago.
Why do we keep voting these idiots into office?
This is some kind of joke right? Unless the speed reader has a vote on this bill, what's the point? The rest of Congress won't still won't have enough time to read it! If the Dems want legislation passed quickly, they need to quit putting together bills that are 900 plus pages. If it's so important to be passed right now, then make it simple, quit filling it with a bunch of other items. Get to the point, make it short and sweet and easy to understand.
A 900 page bill? Or a 3 page bill and 897 pages of pork.
Wow. It must be a real pain for members of congress to have to put in "more than a full day of work time" listening to and discussing their own proposals.
Yep, that's your Republican Party, unified in throwing a hissy fit. Next up: They'll call for bipartisanship.
Reading a bill would be a novelty for this congress. Why bother to waste any more of tax payer's money with a speed reader. The majority has it's privilege. Screw the voters. Onward with our program!
How ironic that our esteemed lawmakers use 900 pages of paper to address climate change. Do they drink out of plastic water bottles while they talk about it? Set the thermostat at 65? Turn on all the lights? You bet they do - because they're so disconnected, they don't even realize how ridiculous that is.
Awe that's cheating, just assign Barney Frank to read the bill.
Now that's thinking outside the box. Hilarious!
Ha ha, this is great! So what exactly is the GOP thinking here? Impede progress wherever possible. They truly do not deserve to have power ever again. It is sad because political systems need competition.
Alternatively, Congresspeople could do their jobs and read the bill themselves. I guess this is better than not reading it.
Pity there won't be any speed listeners.
The GOP will enjoy being read to so much they'll bring back the town crier.
Another lame effort by the Republican party towards bi-partisanship...
Par for the course