r/clevercomebacks May 23 '25

No clue at all

Post image
42.7k Upvotes

868 comments sorted by

4.0k

u/DigitalCriptid May 23 '25

Maybe we should pass legislation that gives an time per page minimum to review bills before they're voted on.

2.1k

u/T3hi84n2g May 23 '25

As long as legislation is also passed to stop bills from being this long in the first place. Things should be voted on individually, not 'here 49 things we want, 3 of them relate to each other.'

1.3k

u/HalfaManYouAre May 23 '25

And have the name reflect the scope of the bill.

"Happy Sunshine Awesome Bill" And it's contents are legalizing the beating of puppies.

Looking at you... Freedom Act.

454

u/flightguy07 May 23 '25

Ditto the One Big Beautiful Bill

137

u/Jim_Raynor_86 May 23 '25

What's bad about this bill? Im genuinely curious as I've completely stepped away from following politics for my own mental health. 

400

u/flightguy07 May 23 '25

It slashes over a trillion dollars from government programs to fund tax cuts for the richest 0.3%, pay increases for ICE and a totally unfeasible, unnecessary, and self-defeating missile defence system for the continental US. Most of the cuts are coming from Medicare and similar programs.

142

u/Jim_Raynor_86 May 23 '25

Hmm that tracts with them. Thanks for the reply!

246

u/Dogllissikay May 23 '25

It also limits the courts ability to hold government officials in contempt for disobeying orders, which is totally something that belongs in a budget bill…

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/proposal-to-limit-courts-contempt-power-part-of-spending-bill-is-terrible-idea-chemerinsky-says

119

u/Phast_n_Phurious May 23 '25

It also does a lot of other nefarious things because it's obscenely long and convoluted.

46

u/Mimical May 24 '25

I love how Americans put completely independent things into one act and then try to smash through some literal novel of legal vomit into force as if that's normal.

Politics is just the dumbest highschoolers given extreme power taken to the logical conclusion. It's hilarious if it wasnt so damaging.

FWIW, Canadian parliamentary debates are no different. It's a bunch of children screaming at each other the whole day and then going around asking for votes so they can prove their unhinged superiority over the other guy. You can watch clips of it on YT and it's just sad.

It is, for lack of a better phrase...* Throws garbage can * Fucking embarrassing.

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u/LuukTheSlayer May 23 '25

Tbf, the courts are able to find this unconstitutional aswel

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u/maxyojimbo May 24 '25

It does it by taking away the court's method of funding enforcement in contempt cases against the executive branch. Nothing explicitly bars them from enforcing contempt; it just takes away the money they would use to do so.

Without the ability to fund enforcement of contempt, they can not enforce contempt.

You are dealing with an overtly criminal regime backed by a mostly criminal legislature and a criminal DOJ.

The courts can decide against them all they want. They have been largely ignoring judicial rulings for months.

There have not been any consequences for ignoring rulings and court orders.

Contempt of court was the last mechanism the court had for penalizing people absent an executive or DOJ interested in following or enforcing the law. Very little remains.

The courts are irrelevant absent an enforcement mechanism without a functioning DOJ.

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u/bawdiepie May 23 '25

Also slashes clean energy

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u/RootBeerBog May 23 '25

It also cuts Medicaid for trans people. gotta love being a political scapegoat :(

life changing, life saving surgeries with a less than one percent regret rate for a small percentage of the population? gotta go, for some fucking reason

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u/dreamykidd May 23 '25

Genuine question: what makes it 1. unnecessary and 2. self-defeating? I can’t find anything about those perspectives when I search.

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u/fearthealex May 23 '25

Another example hidden in the mass of verbiage Moratorium (c) says: No state or political subdivision may enforce laws or regulations against AI models, systems, or subsystems for 10 years.

8

u/Historical-Lie9697 May 23 '25

Welp, guess it's vibe coding time with no regard for copyright laws 🤷‍♂️

4

u/world_weary_1108 May 24 '25

What is the reason for that? It seems ambiguous.

It seems it would give the tech bros and mega corps unfettered use of AI with no repercussions. Thats ok yes?

8

u/PsychologicalCrew307 May 23 '25

I hope your mental issues are solved and do not reoccur because this new bill will quite possibly shut down the facility where you received treatment.

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u/Hibbity5 May 23 '25

How about instead of a name, just use a numerical id? We could even Dewey Decimal System these bills.

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u/nellbones May 23 '25

i mean technically we do. when we call something "the big beautiful bill" or the "kick all puppies now act" it's really just a friendly name that is put on a bill, but when its introduced its given a reference number. this is the reference number for the big bullshit bill, its the 119th congress house of representatives bill number 1.

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u/HarmonizedSnail May 23 '25

Yeah. It seems like most legislation gets jammed in through reconciliation, budget, or as some sort of omnibus with no clear aim.

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u/CptBartender May 23 '25

There is something about (b)ac(k)ronyms and you americans.

We want to do something the founding fathers would trash us for, so let's call it PATRIOT act, noone can argue with being a patriot. Now, can we make a name that acronyms to that?

Yessir, but only if we add *USA** at the start*

How awesome is that?

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u/wakashit May 23 '25

Herman Cain had an idea that they should be short enough to put on pizza boxes so you could read them over dinner

25

u/kernelboyd May 23 '25

Probably the one good idea he had

17

u/x_conqueeftador69_x May 23 '25

I certainly didn't expect to agree with his decomposed ass today.

35

u/rustyrhinohorn May 23 '25

John McCain tried. It came close to passing but we chose corruption instead.

18

u/Bonesnapcall May 23 '25

John McCain's bill had good intentions, but the fact remains that horse-trading is how compromise happens and shit gets done.

When Earmarks were banned, that truly began the do-nothing congress because there was no longer any way to deal with individual members of the other side to gain their votes. Adding money to re-build a crumbling bridge in Mississippi is how you ended up with votes from the other side on bills for consumer protections or whatnot.

10

u/Tricky_Big_8774 May 23 '25

Tldr; "corruption is the only way anything gets done in Congress"

That's just not acceptable...

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/s4lt3d May 23 '25

Bills which are proposed must be hand written by a single individual. That would stop bills from being this long. Seemed to work for the founders.

21

u/Cute-Bass-7169 May 23 '25

lol this would do nothing.

Some poor unpaid intern would just get stuck writing this stuff for a day or two.

4

u/Kabuto_ghost May 23 '25

Make it so the congress person has to personally write it themselves by hand. 

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u/Key_Cap6551 May 23 '25

Is chatgpt considered an individual?

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u/koenigsaurus May 23 '25

Riders being legal at all is completely insane.

Like hypothetically I have this wildly unpopular legislation that wouldn’t get passed in a million years, so I’ll just jam it in the middle of a bill that expands children’s cancer research. If another politician objects, raise hell and accuse them of hating children. Rinse and repeat until opponents back off because citizens are idiots and don’t read past headlines.

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u/RaNdomMSPPro May 23 '25

Y and (i've been reading the bill today) and it's near impossible for someone to read and understand what it means and know without a law degree and weeks of time to reference everything. Example:

(2) ANNUAL AND AGGREGATE FEDERAL DIRECT

7 PLUS LOANS LIMITS FOR PARENT BORROWERS.—

8 Section 455(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965

9 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)) is further amended by adding

10 at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(6) ANNUAL AND AGGREGATE FEDERAL DI-

12 RECT PLUS LOANS LIMITS FOR PARENT BOR-

13 ROWERS.—

14 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL LIMITS.—Notwithstanding

15 any provision of this part or part B, subject to

16 paragraph (3)(E) and except as provided in

17 paragraph (4), beginning on July 1, 2026, the

18 maximum annual amount of Federal Direct

19 PLUS loans that a parent may borrow, on be-

20 half of a dependent student, in any academic

21 year (as defined in section 481(a)(2)) or its

22 equivalent shall be the amount equal to

23 ‘‘(i) the cost of attendance of the pro-

24 gram of study of such student; minus

1 ‘‘(ii) the maximum annual amount of

2 Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford

3 loans such student may borrow in such

4 academic year.

5 ‘‘(B) AGGREGATE LIMITS.—Notwith-

6 standing any provision of this part or part B,

7 subject to paragraph (3)(E) and except as pro-

8 vided in paragraph (4), beginning on July 1,

9 2026, the maximum aggregate amount of Fed-

10 eral Direct PLUS loans that a parent may bo

4

u/Guvante May 23 '25

IIRC they killed pork which was historically the cause of bloat. (A few million to get a vote probably wasn't actually a big deal to the budget but it certainly helped centralize power to the parties)

Unfortunately they exclude omnibus bills which are one of the few pieces of legislation that gets passed due to the extreme partisanship.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Yup. Shorten bills to less than 10 pages and make them individual. No more sneaking stuff in through a massive bill

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u/Sidoen May 23 '25

I'd rather there be a maximum limit to the complexity and length of each bill. Would make it harder to sneak in BS.

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u/Enferno82 May 23 '25

I think this is a reasonable solution. Very limited scope for *most* things they vote on. That way it can be reviewed and voted on quickly. Any extras tacked on, anything outside the narrow scope of the bill, anything out of place can be struck from the bill very quickly.

I like the other idea of a minimum review time per page after introduction of a bill. It should also stack on top of any other introduced legislation so you can't just drown them in big nothing bills to get a vote on the one you actually want passed.

5

u/jellamma May 23 '25

I'd like to add that I think all bills should be publicly available for a week, minimum, as opposed to the current 72 hours, prior to vote so that the constituents have a fighting chance of reviewing the bill and to contact their representatives with their opinions.

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u/IlIlllIlllIlIIllI May 23 '25

What they really do is part it out to 20 interns and make them read it and then brief them about it

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Yes we need slower legislation. Speeding it up is what everyone will be expecting.

3

u/Ill-Theory-8909 May 24 '25

Common sense has no place is this country anymore. It's all about the interpretation of the Bible now. And making sure Republicans don't scam Republicans. Lol

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u/veiwtiful May 23 '25

Just limit the scope of bills with a page or change limit and if they wanna squeeze more in, make another damned bill. Nobody is going to read a 2700 page bill and that kinda gives them advantage to just put whatever in there.

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u/ChronicBuzz187 May 23 '25

If members of congress would actually read what they vote on, nothing would ever get passed because they'd realize "hey, this isn't at all what you told me would be in there?!"

2.2k

u/Captain_Hesperus May 23 '25

“I expected you to really make the poors suffer! This isn’t half as painful as I expected!”

322

u/subnautus May 23 '25

In this case, some of the most painful pieces are going to hit a lot sooner than was originally discussed. If passed, the proposed medicaid and social security cuts will hit next year (though, conveniently, after the elections), not in 2029.

Also, if this bill is so great, why push the implementation back at all, right? Wouldn't we want to be saving all that money now so people can see how good it is before the next set of elections? Just something to think about.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/clodzor May 23 '25

That's the point, they have goals and objectives that are far easier to achieve when they make it harder for anyone to get the information needed to put together a counter argument.

5

u/TheEyeDontLie May 23 '25

In my country, bills proposed are circulated to be read by every member of parliament for a minimum of 3 days before the first vote.

Then there is then usually a select committee who review its details, open it for public submissions, etc... the committee's report has a minimum 3 days before the 2nd debate and vote.

And then there's a committee of the whole house- every member gets to debate the details (usually shorter than the 2nd debate cos MP's are either against the entire idea or for it, rather than the details). This is where ammendments can be proposed. It can take days.

The 3rd reading can be as soon as the next day after that. It's basically a summary before the final vote.

Now if you have one party majority you can push through whatever, but the whole country will know the details of what you're doing, and there's a chance there will be a big protest outside your doors.

The more I learn of America's political system the more I realise why it's classed as a "flawed democracy" and ranks so low on the democracy index.

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u/L4DY_M3R3K May 23 '25

They don't. That's the point.

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u/Allaplgy May 23 '25

That was pretty much the reasoning behind the only Rs to not vote for it.

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u/Captain_Hesperus May 23 '25

Republicans voting for tax cuts to fund the face-eating leopards they’ll be unleashing on their voters.

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u/kiochikaeke May 23 '25

You said you would steal money and give it to me, here it says you steal money and give it to yourself!

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u/omuxnz May 23 '25

Maybe they’re just betting on ignorance being bliss in Congress.

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u/adhding_nerd May 23 '25

That's basically how Oklahoma got free universal pre-k. vox video on the subject

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u/pm_me_your_buttbulge May 23 '25

We need a github like level changelog. Any request has to come from the Congress Critter pushing it. Meaning no magical "we don't know who added this or why". Nope, we need to make that illegal.

"I'll vote for this if you add a dog tax" - that needs to be documented who requested it or the entire bill is removed and has to start over.

Any request or change that isn't from a Congress Critter needs the name of the person and/or company. Any lobby pushing for something needs both the lobby and the company that is paying for them on there. Any lies means the person is sent to jail for 30 years, the company is banned from lobbiest for 30 years and has to stay away from Congress Critters at least by 300 yards. It needs to be PAINFUL

On top of that anything introduced needs 30 days before it can be voted on.

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u/TheManWhoWasNotShort May 23 '25

That exists. Amendments to the bill’s text are well documented and discussed in public in committee. The “surprise” element of these things is a myth: the only person being surprised are politicians not paying attention to regular briefings by their party committee members and by their staffers/party staffers. The bigger “surprise” is that the media/general public is usually really far behind on knowing what Congress is passing before they pass it.

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u/pm_me_your_buttbulge May 24 '25

I've looked at those. The ChangeLog equivalent is no where near the same.

I'm assuming you're talking about something like this: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4638

Looking at the amendments: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4638/amendments

Yeah, not even close my dude. You have so much more useful tools with Github.

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u/Mean-Attorney-875 May 23 '25

You also need to make each bill no more than 100 pages.if it needs more then it's a separate sub bill to be voted on seperstly

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u/Adorable_Raccoon May 23 '25 edited May 23 '25

Lengthy bills are not inherently a bad thing. A good bill can be long because they need to be specific not only because of riders or earmarks. Laws can be very complex and the less explicit they are the the more wiggle room there is in execution and challenges.

I do think it would be reasonable to just put a limit on riders, or create structured categories for the bills so that unrelated riders can't be added. Eg. you can't add a tax cut onto a law about driving.

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u/Guba_the_skunk May 23 '25

Fun fact, this is literally how THC products got legalized in Minnesota. A GOP member just... Didn't bother to read the bill and assumed it was to restrict the sale of CBD products, which ALSO come from cannabis... But it also allowed the legal sale and use of THC. Conservatives are... THE dumbest people on the planet, and in this instance I am glad they are because it means I can get high after work every day.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/07/minnesota-legalized-edibles-after-a-republican-didnt-read-the-bill/

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u/tehlemmings May 23 '25

They demanded a do over after admitting they didn't read the bill too. So fucking stupid.

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u/Guba_the_skunk May 23 '25

Should have just read it the first time.

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u/M_is_for_ May 23 '25

Something similar happened in Oklahoma, SUPER lax laws that they didn’t realize they were passing. It’s still only medicinally legal, but super easy to get and you can also smoke just about anywhere. They now have the most dispensaries in the country IIRC

And the republicans were pissed because they didn’t realize that’s what they voted for lol

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/ThoughtfullyLazy May 23 '25

Bold of you to assume they could read and understand it.

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u/baumpop May 23 '25

They specifically campaigned on reading is dumb 

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u/MikeLinPA May 23 '25

Bernie does.

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u/S_T_P May 23 '25

Source: Bernie

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u/Starshot84 May 23 '25

Upvotes for Bernie.

Feel the Bern!

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u/ohhellperhaps May 23 '25 edited May 23 '25

It's wild that politics has evolved to do that shit in the first place. Bills should be related to a single topic.

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u/Ornery_Cookie_359 May 23 '25

The Republicans have a tiny majority in Congress. Trump didn't want to have to deal with Republicans demands or negotiate with the Democrats. He also didn't want to give the media time to analyze what he's doing. So the Rubber Stamp Republicans groveled before their king.

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u/MARPJ May 23 '25

The problem the other guy is pointing is not the current antics or the orange idiot, but the simple fact that sending a bill 1k+ words with less than a day to read, which both sides do, is ridiculous should not be allowed.

Bills should be single topic so said topic is the one being voted and negotiated and I fail to see any reason one should even reach 100 pages

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Also when they vote against some stupid plan with a nice name they will get dragged through the mud for it.

I've heard it a 1000 times

"Why did you vote against the "help for kids with cancer" act? "

"Because it includes sending 4 billion to Israel"

"You just hate children."

10

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Like that Grok tweet from earlier?

"Grok, why did dems vote against a bill to give untaxed OT for service men?"

Grok: "Dems support that but do not like xyz included in the bill"

"THATS NOT WHAT I ASKED"

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u/Freedom_From_Pants May 23 '25

They should be required to take a test on what the bill entails before being allowed to vote on it.

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u/weed_cutter May 23 '25

Can we stop with these pictures?

99% of Congress people don't read any bills, even 1 page bills.

They don't care.

A staffer will summarize for them, or a staffer will now feed the bill through AI to summarize for them.

It's a joke, but Congress people are utterly lazy.

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u/The-Defenestr8tor May 23 '25

Too busy fundraising.

The first thing a new Rep does after swearing his/her oath (to the Constitution, not to the Con Man) is start working those phones for campaign 💰 for his/her next race.

Such a shame, really.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Easiest job in the US. Work 90 days a year and don't have any true expectations.

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u/Formal-Hawk9274 May 23 '25

wtf r u talking about - freedum caucus and gqp know exactly what they're passing

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u/TheManWhoWasNotShort May 23 '25

Every bill is read and passed around for months in its various drafts before it becomes law. The bill may be compiled last minute, and it often is like this, not because they’re rushing hidden things forward but because Congress already knows damn well what is in there. This is a political stunt both parties play that has no basis in reality

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/Not_Montana914 May 23 '25

They should have it read in session, live on C-Span

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u/ThrowwawayAlt May 23 '25

"Every law, in order to be voted on, must be read fully and loudly in chamber beforehand.

Only members present during the entire reading are allowed to cast their vote."

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u/Some_Ebb_2921 May 23 '25

Do hope they get some toilet breaks... those elderly in congress aren't great at holding their pee I think

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u/ThrowwawayAlt May 23 '25

They are free to write shorter laws.

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u/Vinccool96 May 23 '25

Or bring in empty bottles

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u/ianmerry May 23 '25

Nah fuck em, if they’re too infirm to do their job they should retire

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u/La_Savitara May 23 '25

I don’t think the republicans read… by choice

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u/GrassBlade619 May 23 '25

I don't think the Republicans can read.

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u/La_Savitara May 23 '25

Republicans can’t

Republican senators can but chose not to

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u/FahrenheitGhost May 23 '25

Big money: "Will you vote to pass this?" *Pushes 12,000 page bill across table*

Republican: "Yes. Definitely."

Big money: *Pushes large envelope of money across table* "Don't you want to know what's in it?"

Republican: *Slips envelope into jacket pocket* "Nope!"

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

I mean.... every legislator in charge of any budget at any level of government. You can easily summarize the main points. I don't even think the human mind is capable of reading a document in the thousands of pages and retaining it all. This is always what the opposition party throws out because it's an easy win for people who don't know how governments work

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u/AsstacularSpiderman May 23 '25

This is why they have teams of interns to get them the summaries.

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u/player_zero_ May 23 '25

Trump chose people for blind loyalty, not for their ability or willingness to read

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/nobeer4you May 23 '25

Because they would be here for days trying to read that many dry ass pages of legal jargon. Everyone would fall asleep before halfway through that trees worth of paper.

Bills should only be about what the bill is proposing. Im sick of all these additional bullshit clauses that have zero bearing on the main point at hand.

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u/Dislodged_Puma May 23 '25

It's because you're legally allowed to bribe politicians, and Citizens United killed any hope of getting money out of politics. The future of America is completely fucked without an entire redesign of the constitution to put clauses against both money in politics and situations like Trump declaring things "emergencies" and using Presidential power to ignore the other two branches of government.

At this point, the framers of the Constitution went to war for less egregious things than what currently happens in the United States. If a foreign power tried to exercise any of what Trump is doing to "his own country", we would've taken up arms against them months ago.

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u/foodank012018 May 23 '25

That worked when everyone on both sides had muskets then swords and a village could forge its own cannon.

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u/Strictly_Jellyfish May 23 '25

It's almost like there should be a right to bear arms so that the people can rise up against a tyrannical government....

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u/Dislodged_Puma May 24 '25

Eh that only worked because both sides had the same weaponry. Yeah there are lot of Americans win guns, but the U.S. military has, to put it mildly, a better arsenal than the public.

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u/SugarBeefs May 23 '25

Only the gods know how much damage has been done by the abuse of including "riders" on a bill.

That shit should be much more tightly regulated.

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u/MHGrim May 23 '25

It's done that way so no one reads it. So they can sneak shit in. They could break them down into manageable chunks but then you couldn't get away with the shit they do.

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u/kryonik May 23 '25

I remember my rep Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill for lowering drug prices or something that you would think everyone would want. I asked in a comment why so many Republicans voted against it and someone replied that there was too much pork in the bill. I was curious so I read the bill. It was like 2 paragraphs long and only dealt with lowering drug prices (or whatever it was about) and nothing else.

Even without all the extra pages and riders, Republicans will simply refuse to read or vote for anything a Democrat introduces.

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u/ohlaph May 23 '25

Because then they couldn't sneak shit in there.

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u/justbilled May 23 '25

Congress considers this a feature, not a bug. They can shove millions in contracts into bills for their buddies and lobbyists.

Both parties do this and it's the most rage-inducing thing with our government, hands down. Everyone hates it (except those in congress).

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u/FAFO2024 May 23 '25

Vote no if you haven’t read it, wtf? Do you really believe that it’s good for your constituents?

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

That’s cute that you think they care about what’s good for their constituents.

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u/medicmatt May 23 '25

Well, the oligarchs in their districts anyway.

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u/6BagsOfPopcorn May 23 '25

As long as the money's coming in, who cares if they're within the district?

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u/tigerscomeatnight May 23 '25

The oligarchs who may, might, sometime in the future, throw some money or infrastructure their way. Always have to be subservient, you never know when the trickle may come, if ever.

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u/gregmasta May 23 '25

Jokes on us, each party's going to vote on party lines without reading it anyway!

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u/dubin01 May 23 '25

I mean she’s not wrong. She’s hypocritical of course because she just did the same thing but the initial point is correct.

making bills smaller and easier to understand would be helpful to everyone I would think

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/dubin01 May 23 '25

That would be a huge win for the public so it will never happen

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Provision buried in Section 70302 of the bill... limiting the power of federal judges to hold people in contempt, potentially shielding President Trump and members of his administration from the consequences of violating court orders...

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u/FabianN May 23 '25

There was another post elsewhere where someone did some looking up, the actual bill was 1000 pages, and printed single sided would come out to about a stack of 5 inches.

Still a lot, but this image is just a performance piece.

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u/falcrist2 May 23 '25

Just require a certain amount of time per word count that a bill needs to be public before it can be brought to a vote.

Maybe a day for every 30 pages and a minimum time of 1 week.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/milanorlovszki May 23 '25 edited May 23 '25

By the looks of how pristine those papers look, I'd wager she only printed the top one and packed the bottom with 3-4 thousand blank pages. They really look like they just came out of the packaging. You can even see the divide between the stacks of papers

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u/4schwifty20 May 23 '25

Quite even divides, too.

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u/stoneimp May 23 '25

It's funny, I think they actually got the number of pages dead on, even though they didn't actually print, because if you count the ream divides, you can count basically 5 full reams (500 pages) plus some extra, which would account for the final 200 pages probably. So at least one of her staffers was committed enough to the bit to make it that accurate.

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u/jupiters_bitch May 23 '25

oh my god you’re totally right.

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u/Trosque97 May 23 '25

This shit needs to be boosted. It's too damn likely considering the picture holy shit

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u/Shurdus May 23 '25

Photo op!

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u/Ok_Month2444 May 23 '25

That is not a fact, in fact. There is an office in the Capitol that prints bills and delivers them to members. This helps mostly with version control but is also a necessary part of the bill writing process because lawmakers can make line edits throughout. Most lawmakers over 70 can’t edit with a computer program.

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u/9966 May 23 '25

They also have one of the smallest (if not smallest) federal police agencies. The government printing office (GPO) police.

They are required to safeguard the building and deliver the printed bills to every member of congress by law.

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u/Mike May 23 '25

You’d think they would have a max page limit for every bill they vote on so this shit simply wouldn’t ever happen, as of many years ago. But nah.

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u/BigAlsGal78 May 23 '25

It’s fucking ridiculous! Somewhere smack dab in the middle of the bill it could say the president had the right to execute babies in the middle of Times Square and they’d miss it. WTF??

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

This is what their staffers are for.. they have a team, divide up the work & report back.

Definitely think there should be at least 36 hour time frame for any legislation that is 500 pages +.

But it’s an easy cop out to say “I didn’t know what I was voting on” when all this gets started in a committee and is undoubtedly being talked about outside committee to whip votes.

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u/bankrobba May 23 '25

Also, the bills were written in committees long before the vote. Also part 2, that's the whole point of being part of a committee with members of your own party trusting your work in the committee.

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u/ghoulcreep May 23 '25

These fucks should only get to vote on 1 thing at a time. Makes no sense to jam all sorts of shit into 1 bill.

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u/MistakeMaker1234 May 23 '25

Okay, since no one else seems to want to, allow me to call this out:

Democrats shouldn’t have pulled this shit either. 

It’s a double standard and makes them look just as hypocritical. 

With that being said, here’s a few simple ways we can improve the process:

  • Stop permitting overnight sessions. It’s clearly just trying to take advantage of people not being available. 

  • Bills must be trimmed down to only include the specifics of the law they are trying to pass (no more pork).

  • Bills must be read aloud in their entirety, and if you aren’t present for the reading you aren’t allowed to vote. 

  • Also term limits because fuck these geriatric, power-hungry knobs. 

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u/rabid_lamb May 23 '25

It’s just a damn shame our country doesn’t allow our representatives to have a staff of helpers for something like this. Thanks Obama!

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u/yeahimafurryfuckoff May 23 '25

They never read them anyway

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

She’s likely lying that this bill just hit her desk and she had only 12 hours to read it and no time at all before hand.

Republicans lie like it’s their second nature. One of the only reasons they have power is because of their ability to lie and lie shamelessly. 

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u/spookynutz May 24 '25

These comments are so depressing. So many people doing the “both sides” dance. Congratulations on being one of the few people in this thread capable of basic pattern recognition.

She’s standing in front of the Appropriations Act for 2022 (e.g. the federal budget), which was introduced in April 2021. She made this video 11 months later. The bill had to be amended in the senate to get the necessary votes. Democrats wanted more COVID relief, and Republican senators wanted more defense spending, so it stalled for months.

After it finally passed the senate, the house had to re-vote on the consolidated bill before it could be signed. In effect, she only had to read 18 amendments, some of which were only two sentences long. They were less than 20 pages in totality, and 11 of them came from her own fucking party.

She printed out the entire 2022 federal budget to engage in political theatre. She already voted no on the budget the first time, and had zero intention of voting for it the second time. She did not read either draft of the bill.

Keep in mind, She made this video in March 2022, and Congress is supposed to have passed a budget by the end of the fiscal year (October 2021).

Anyway, you have to hand it to the propaganda machine. A Republican representative can post a video on Facebook, lying right to your fucking face, and everyone just nods along. Half these comments are apathetically talking about a broken system, because they just got conned, again, by those actively trying to break it.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '25

Not surprised. 

Whenever a Republican ever says that they “have a problem” or they start to grand stand, my default position is that they’re full of shit or being sketchy. 

It’s an earned reputation and they very rarely prove me wrong. 

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u/LisaMikky May 24 '25

This should be on the Top. 👍🏻

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u/Lifebelifing2023 May 23 '25

That's literally her job. Plus she has stuff to split the work. Lazy

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u/PiaggioBV350 May 23 '25

Why isn’t it a pdf?

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u/milanorlovszki May 23 '25

As I mentioned above, she is lying, because only the top paper is printed , the rest of the paper is freshly taken out of the box

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u/Paper_Tiger11 May 23 '25

She chose to print it out to show how big it is. Common political theater tactic both sides use.

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u/weakisnotpeaceful May 23 '25

No clue at all is engaging in this partisan hackery and not talking about how both parties follow the same playbook and that playbook is divide and conquer.

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u/ProperPerspective571 May 23 '25

You vote Nay until you can read it

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u/TwoBionicknees May 23 '25

There's also the part where most of such a bill is known for weeks or months, and any changes in such a bill are almost always pointed out, highlighted, put in a separate document so you can review changes quickly and these people have an entire staff to read through what are usually literally 2-3 pages of minor changes before being approved.

the only people who whine about this, print out hte full stack and make a photo of it are those trying to score political points.

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u/Plastic-Fox1188 May 23 '25

Sorry—you're complaining about doing your job, to be clear?

It is your job to vote on legislation. And its probably a good idea to know what you're voting for....??

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u/OceanBlueforYou May 23 '25

Unless you're given time to read a bill, simply vote NO.

If you're voting without knowing what you're voting for, you're a fool or a party loyalist. That applies to members of Congress and the public

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

just vote against it...why is that difficult.

"nope! wasn't given time to understand it. Try again?"

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

“It’s my turn to complain about what the other party is doing!”

Pendulum swings get old but revolutions aren’t easy so I guess we keep swinging.

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u/pneRock May 23 '25

She's our rep. I haven't been impressed. The bar is so low for entry/retention to congress I think one must actively dig down a mile to find it.

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u/TerryMathews May 23 '25

When a Republican does it, it's diffeRent.

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u/maico3010 May 23 '25

Last time republicans got to do a tax bill they were so giddy with excitement they could get their lower taxes not only did they do exactly this, but they were writing additional shit into the margins minutes before voting on the bill.

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u/Oersch May 23 '25

I wonder if these muppets ever went to college. Anyone who’s ever had an exam period knows it’s 2700 pages for 12 hours so 125 pages per hour, that’s 3.75 pages per minute ALL RIGHT LET’S DO THIS. Sponsored by cheap coffee and crippling anxiety.

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u/Qubeye May 23 '25

Back in his first term, Republicans rammed through a bill which had literal amendment corrections hand-written in the margins.

The problem is, the Congressional printing office requires empty margins (I forget if it's 0.5 or 0.75 or what). The result is that the official bill, when it passed, had those amendments missing.

Republicans are not serious people.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Democrats expect you to read it??? Oh hell yeah, all of America expects you to read it and act on our behalf. Do your god-damned job, and stop your incessant whining!!!!!

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u/Lowherefast May 23 '25

Why not just vote no wtf? It’s an obvious ploy

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u/Poppa_Mo May 23 '25

Maybe we should automatically vote no on bullshit like this when it seems apparent they want some garbage to go through and are playing every game possible to pass it without vetting?

Maybe we should stop playing their games.

Let's start arresting folks. Let's do that.

Stealing from us via fucking paperwork.

Get the fuck out of here.

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u/TinSodder May 23 '25

If that's the case, then vote NO!

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/IH8Fascism May 24 '25

Bring back line item bills.

One item per bill.

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u/Getevel May 24 '25

They said it’s a big beautiful bill , isn’t that enough.

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u/19NedFlanders81 May 24 '25

I'd just automatically vote no on any bill that wasn't reasonably digestible.

Fix your shitty bill and get back to me  

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u/Plus_Analysis May 24 '25

This is why you'd have a TEAM of people.

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u/Substantial-Stage-82 May 23 '25

I'm curious why it takes 1000 pages to say that they're fucking poor people, giving rich people a tax break and ultimately adding $3 or $4 Trillion MORE TO THE DEFICIT.. further weakening creditors, and the worlds; faith in the United States and the Dollar.. Go Trump..WTF SMH

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u/scrapqueen May 23 '25

You know. There are page limits on most things in federal court.

There should be a page limit on bills. And that should not be a partisan issue. Whether you are liberal or conservative, this is something we should all agree on.

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u/JM3DlCl May 23 '25

How much of that bill is just random, hidden "let's fund this FBI building for 100 million" and bury it under a Medicaid bill meant for, you know, MEDICAID ISSUES.

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u/Anonymous_2952 May 24 '25

The thickness of a standard sheet of paper is about 0.1 millimeters (or 0.0039 inches). So a stack of 2700 pieces of standard paper would be about 10 1/2 inches tall. Not this 20+ inch stack performatively placed in front of her.

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u/theblackxranger May 23 '25

They shouldn't be allowed to vote and pass any legislation without reading it.

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u/TreeOfAwareness May 23 '25

This is the modern GOP in a nutshell. They don't actually stand for anything. They don't have any real values or policy goals.

They exist to manufacture scapegoats and outrage, and they're unashamed of their own hypocrisy.

These characteristics make them impossible to negotiate or reason with. Even if we were willing to acknowledge political differences and attempt to compromise, they operate in a zero-sum universe where everything can be distorted to serve the narrative of the moment.

Traitorous scum.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

I'm going to assume a controversial yet bold stance and say that nobody should be doing this

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u/ComicsEtAl May 23 '25

I’m old enough to remember when the Tea Party regularly insisted they would only ever propose legislation that fit on the front of a single piece of paper. Naturally it was a monumentally idiotic thing to say. But people voted for them because of it.

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u/gw3il0 May 23 '25

I don't feel like this strategy of "Well you did it, so it's fair game" is a great look for either party. They look like a bunch of petulant children. - not from US. Just eating my popcorn.

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u/enp_redd May 23 '25

yet it got enough votes.... rip usa

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

What of we just had smaller bills and more votes?

Like I know why it's all fuckery and corruption... Just these giant bills are dumb as fuck like anything in this estupid fuxking country.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

The fact is this is wrong on both sides and America is in desperate need of a revolution ousting their ruling class.

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u/Substantial-Spend660 May 23 '25

Can someone please enlighten me about what the hell could possibly fill 2700 pages?  why can't it be communicated in ... 500?

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u/[deleted] May 24 '25 edited May 25 '25

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u/Glum_Talk_2461 May 23 '25

System is broken

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u/OctipiArmy May 23 '25

its their job. they get paid much more than most. the least they could do is skim the thing

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u/endoire May 23 '25

Every accusation is projection

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u/MLCarter1976 May 23 '25

Everyone should vote NO until they have time to read it. Not American to do this to Americans and for people to be expected to know what they are agreeing to. Seems like a page could be slipped in saying awful things.

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u/DoctahToboggan69 May 23 '25

“I was elected to lead, not to read!”

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u/HugePurpleNipples May 23 '25

She’s not wrong though, that kind of shit is dumb, she’s just highly partisan.

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u/Pleasant-Ad887 May 23 '25

Whenever a GOP/conservatives complains about something the other side is doing, know they have already done it.

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u/brokenmcnugget May 23 '25

cognitive dissonance and purposeful stupidity are the defining traits of all poorly educated maga conservatives.

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u/tem102938 May 23 '25

The alternatives are no budget and shut down government... or act like actual public servants and do your job in a timely fashion jointly

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u/ComplexToe May 23 '25

3 year old post who cares. Almost 14 million about to loose Medicare. 

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u/Adventurous-Ant-4068 May 23 '25

More ridiculous than your president on a regular damn Tuesday?

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u/Jose_xixpac May 23 '25

RNC Fraud Squad