Is it too much to ask?

The Washington Post today published an editorial called "Read This!" about whether lawmakers could, or even should, read every word in every piece of legislation upon which they vote. The same issue applies to state legislatures and county councils, too. The issue was originally raised in relation to the massive healthcare reform bill, when it became clear that many in Congress had not read the bill entirely.

That prompted the "Read to Vote" campaign. The organization of the same name is urging the members of the U.S. Senate and House to sign a pledge that they will read every word of a bill before voting on it. There is also a pledge for U.S. citizens to sign, urging their representatives to read every bill, and that they, as citizens, will try to do so too. Right.

The Washington Post editorial, touches on the obvious; as nice as it sounds, if lawmakers really did read every word of every bill up for vote, work on Capitol Hill would grind to an exasperating pace, if not a halt. It does concede, though, that the Read to Vote campaign makes some good points about the need to take the time to, if not read every word, at least fully understand bills up for vote.

"Still, the ReadtoVote campaign hits on some reasonable sources of discomfort with the way Congress operates. Some on the left are furious about politicians distorting bills' contents -- accusations of death panels in the health-care bill, for example. Unfortunately, distortion will probably happen regardless of how many pages lawmakers read.

Another is that leaders rush huge bills to a vote before lawmakers can review them. It's a problem about which the minority party inevitably complains. But in the current climate, it also unnecessarily feeds a divisive narrative on the right about how President Obama and his allies in Congress are forcing radical policy on an unwitting public. Narrative or no, it's reasonable to expect adequate time to consider bills' final language. "