Do bills really need to be that many pages?

[Monte1076]

Do bills that Congress write really need to be as lengthy as they are? I mean, one of the COVID stimulus bills was something like 5,500 pages. The ACA was thousands of pages. Look at a ream of paper. That's 500 pages, I believe. You could argue that if you type it up it's 1,000 pages, 500 front and back. And we know our Congresspeople aren't reading them. Yes, I understand that they have staffers that give them summaries (I think), but I don't think that's sufficient.

5,500 pages is almost like reading the Bible a little over four times in a row, assuming a 1,200 page Bible!

You're telling me, that we have an entire religion that many of us follow (Christianity), with a Holy Book (the Bible) that is 1,200 pages, yet we need 5,500 pages for one law? My NIV Study Bible, including reference material, is nearly 2,000 pages.

According to this link: https://usconstitution.net/const.pdf

The constitution, including all Amendments, is 21 pages at that particular font and spacing.

So why do bills need to be so lengthy? I'm quite sure that we don't need a 5,500 page bill to send out $1,400 checks to people. Couldn't that be done in less than 20 pages?

[Youngcoach123]

There was a bill proposed to shorten them. Maybe Cruz wrote it not sure though. Got no traction. 

[RETIREDFAN1]

In the Senate, if there is not a unanimous consent, the entire bill MUST be read word for word from the floor......THIS should become a common practice.......and WILL if the libnuts get rid of the filibuster........If I were a Senator, every single bill would have to be dealt with after a complete reading from the floor........

[Monte1076]

3 minutes ago, RETIREDFAN1 said:

In the Senate, if there is not a unanimous consent, the entire bill MUST be read word for word from the floor......THIS should become a common practice.......and WILL if the libnuts get rid of the filibuster........If I were a Senator, every single bill would have to be dealt with after a complete reading from the floor........

Senate Clerks would hate that job!

[DB2point0]

It allows for hiding things they want in them.  In the Obamacare Bill only about 11% pertained to healthcare.  The bulk of the bill was earmark and pork spending.  Which is why Pelosi is famous for her words “pass it and we can see what’s in it”.  They hope people won’t read them 

[RETIREDFAN1]

11 minutes ago, Monte1076 said:

Senate Clerks would hate that job!

They would finally be earning their pay.......

[Purpleforever]

It's all the pork they hid in there.

[osup116]

7 hours ago, Monte1076 said:

Do bills that Congress write really need to be as lengthy as they are? I mean, one of the COVID stimulus bills was something like 5,500 pages. The ACA was thousands of pages. Look at a ream of paper. That's 500 pages, I believe. You could argue that if you type it up it's 1,000 pages, 500 front and back. And we know our Congresspeople aren't reading them. Yes, I understand that they have staffers that give them summaries (I think), but I don't think that's sufficient.

5,500 pages is almost like reading the Bible a little over four times in a row, assuming a 1,200 page Bible!

You're telling me, that we have an entire religion that many of us follow (Christianity), with a Holy Book (the Bible) that is 1,200 pages, yet we need 5,500 pages for one law? My NIV Study Bible, including reference material, is nearly 2,000 pages.

According to this link: https://usconstitution.net/const.pdf

The constitution, including all Amendments, is 21 pages at that particular font and spacing.

So why do bills need to be so lengthy? I'm quite sure that we don't need a 5,500 page bill to send out $1,400 checks to people. Couldn't that be done in less than 20 pages?

Cant hid the stolen money in a one page document. Longer the bill the more we are getting taken to cleaners 

[KirtFalcon]

When the Convention of States finally comes to fruition, they need to outlaw "omnibus spending sprees" and force congress to pass smaller individual bills ... no more pork barrel bills with all the hidden BS .... also congress has to go back to a base line BALANCED budget from scratch every year passed by Oct 1st or congress isn't paid, not passed by Dec 31 and the House and Senate are both dissolved and we hold new congressional elections  ...  no more automatic spending increases, no more not reading bills before they are voted on ......

[osup116]

58 minutes ago, KirtFalcon said:

When the Convention of States finally comes to fruition, they need to outlaw "omnibus spending sprees" and force congress to pass smaller individual bills ... no more pork barrel bills with all the hidden BS .... also congress has to go back to a base line BALANCED budget from scratch every year passed by Oct 1st or congress isn't paid, not passed by Dec 31 and the House and Senate are both dissolved and we hold new congressional elections  ...  no more automatic spending increases, no more not reading bills before they are voted on ......

No congressional raises unless it is voted on by the people. 

[DB2point0]

4 hours ago, osup116 said:

No congressional raises unless it is voted on by the people. 

Yes, I think ther pay should be voted on by the people from the state they represent 

[Monte1076]

21 hours ago, RETIREDFAN1 said:

In the Senate, if there is not a unanimous consent, the entire bill MUST be read word for word from the floor......THIS should become a common practice.......and WILL if the libnuts get rid of the filibuster........If I were a Senator, every single bill would have to be dealt with after a complete reading from the floor........

There's a special election going on where I live. I emailed one of the candidates running, and he flat-out told me in his reply that if he felt a bill was too long (i.e. too many pages) he would vote no, even if he agreed with the overall premise of the bill.

In fact, here's part of what he wrote back to me:

Quote

I will never vote for any bill that is multiple hundreds of pages long.  If I can't read it and understand it pretty quickly, then neither can my constituents.  We citizens are supposed to be in charge, and we don't need to be spending half of our waking hours reading the ridiculously long laws passed by Congress.

Like I said, I will simply vote no.  Even if the bill contains all stuff I like.  If it's too complex, and too long to read and understand relatively quickly, then I am a sure no vote.  5,500 hundred pages is excessive.  500 pages is excessive.  I'm not sure exactly where the line is, but honestly many can be 1 or 2 pages.  We don't need to live in a lawyer-driven society where we have to parse out and explain every single minute detail.  We need reasonable people, making reasonable laws that all of us can understand. And when the margins of those reasonable laws are pushed by those trying to be unreasonable and get away with stuff since we made the law 2 pages instead of 2,000, then we need reasonable and honest courts to sort that out.  The solution is NEVER a multi-hundred page law.  That's just insanity.