Congress Wouldn’t Be So Dysfunctional If Democrats Read Their Own Bills Before Passing Them

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., once famously boasted about the Obamacare legislation, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” However, what was once a unique feature of Obamacare has apparently grown in popularity. Senate Democrats’ last massive omnibus spending bill indicates not knowing what’s in a bill before passing it has become standard operating procedure.

In this case, the dispute involves provisions in the massive omnibus spending measure that Democrats rammed through Congress right before adjourning last December. It turns out the process to assemble the bill was so rushed and slapdash, lawmakers still can’t decipher the meaning of one section.

Hurried Process Behind Closed Doors

A recent article in Politico explained the dispute, which involves Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs for workers whose jobs were allegedly displaced by foreign trade. As it turns out, the bill contained half a billion dollars in funding for TAA programs that had expired — without including provisions reauthorizing those programs:

The issue, say congressional aides involved in the omnibus negotiations, goes back to the year-end crunch to finalize the spending package. As [Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron] Wyden [D-Ore.] and trade lawmakers negotiated on TAA, appropriations lawmakers wrote in the $500 million in case lawmakers arrived at a deal to reauthorize it. That deal never materialized, but the $500 million provision was not altered in the rush to finish the package before the winter holidays.