Some of the biggest, most controversial bills of this Congress were voted on in the wee hours of the morning, when network television reporters had gone home, newspapers had been put to bed, and Americans had turned off C-SPAN for the night.
It makes it harder for you to find out how your Congressman voted, and easier for him to cave into pressure instead of vote his conscience.
Take the sweeping changes in Medicare. Remember the plan that wound up costing you a quarter-trillion dollars more than it was supposed to cost? The House forced a vote on it at 5:55 – on a Saturday morning – back in November.
That wasn’t the only time Congress has acted in the dark. Just look at this list from the past couple of years:
- 2:54 on a Friday morning: House cuts veterans' benefits
- 2:39 on a Friday morning: House cuts education & health care
- 1:56 on a Friday morning: House cuts taxes on millionaires
- 2:33 on a Friday morning: House passes Medicare privatization
- 12:57 on a Friday morning: House cuts money for Head Start
- 12:12 on a Friday morning: House gives $87 billion to Iraq
These were close votes, almost all of these passed by five or fewer votes. It’s easier to swing someone to your side if he figures the voters at home are going to miss the story of how he voted for them in Congress.
Guess they gotta be sneaky. There are less than 30 working days before Congress calls it a year, and tons of work still not done.
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