– Who Read 1,582-Page $1.1T Spending Bill? Congressman: ‘Nobody Did’ (CNS News, Jan 16, 2014):
When asked whether he read the 1,528-page, $1.1 trillion government spending bill before he voted for it yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said, “Nobody did!”
On Capitol Hill on Thursday, CNSNews.com asked Blumenauer: “The omnibus bill yesterday, it was 1,582 pages, did you have a chance to read all the pages before voting on it?”
Blumenauer laughed and said: “Nobody did!”
“Nobody did?” said the CNSNews.com reporter.
“Nope,” said Blumenauer.
In an e-mail to CNSNews.com, Blumenauer’s communications director, Patrick Malone, said: “A reminder that the Republicans complained and complained about not having time to read bills when the Dems were in charge and then keep dropping bombs like this on us.”
The $1.1 trillion bill will fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal year 2014, which ends on Sept. 30, 2014.
Sixty-four Republicans and three Democrats voted against the legislation. The final vote was 359-67. The legislation was opposed by conservative groups and conservative members of Congress.
The bill increases federal spending by $44.8 billion this year over the spending level previously set by Congress.