Senate Finance Committee Votes NO on Letting Public have 72 Hours to Review Healthcare Bill

The American people may not get a chance to review the final Healthcare Bill put forth by the Senate.

On Thursday, September 22, 2009 during mark-up of the Senate version of the House Healthcare Bill HR 3200, the GOP requested an amendment be added that guarantees Americans and Senators will get 72 hours to review the bill.

The vote on the measure was 11 for / 12 against. All DEMS except Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) voted against the amendment.

There are nearly 500 amendments the committee is going through. On this one amendment, they debated about two hours.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Jim Bunning (R- Kentucky) would have required that the entire bill and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) final cost analysis be posted on the Senate Finance Committee's Web site for 72 hours before the committee votes on the final bill.

John Kerry (D-Mass) said “Let’s be honest about it, most people don’t read the legislative language.”

Well let me be honest about it. Many Americans DO read the bills and it is our duty to do so. I read HR 3200. It’s our Senators and Congressmen who don’t read the bills as John Conyers (D-Michigan) so clearly stated, “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACbwND52rrw

Kerry also added that the move to "score" the bill (get a price tag) and post it on the internet for 72 hours for the American people to read was a GOP "delay tactic" to avoid passing any "real reform."

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said "Reading this bill will only confuse people."
Or will it only confuse our Senators? I still have faith that the American people can read just fine.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said it would take at least two weeks for staff to write the bill that way (a way that is understandable and readable). If it’s too hard to read and understand, how easy will it be to implement?

So what if it takes two weeks to get an accurate assessment of the bill? This will be the largest tax burden ever added onto the shoulders of the American people. Is two weeks really to long to wait? Healthcare reform as proposed will not be implemented until July, 2013. That’s FOUR years! What is the rush? I believe We the People deserve two weeks to see the entire bill before the Senate Committee votes on it.

This is the transparency we were promised? Rushing makes me suspicious. These days I feel like Oliver Douglas in Green Acres. Our government has become Mr. Haney peddling Healthcare Reform in a nice shiny bottle with an inflated expensive price tag attached. We unfortunately we won’t know if it’s only cheap toilet water until we go to use it four years from now. By then, it may really stink.

Call all your Senators and demand WE get to see this bill before it is voted on.
US Senators Phone numbers:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

References:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/23/2078308.aspx
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/legislation.htm
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9039/