As usual, the Republicans continue to spread their lies as part of their distraction campaign.  They claim that the Democrats in Congress are trying to push bills through the legislative process without reading them, and without making them available to the public. They expect you to believe that the Democrats have a secret plan to raise your taxes to 100% and use the money to kill your Grandma.  And some people actually fell for it.

               Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, members of Congress are too busy to read thousands of pages of bills, reports, and correspondence every day. That’s why each member employs a staff whose job is to read the legislation, keep up on developments, and make recommendations to the members. Each staff member specializes in a particular area of policy, such as social services, business, climate, etc., and they do read the information. Yes, really, all of it. I’ve met with many Congressional staffers and they are incredibly intelligent, talented people.

               As for the public availability of pending legislation, EVERY bill introduced to Congress is posted online at the Library of Congress website  Yes, every single one of them. And the Republicans full well know it. In January 1995, the 104^th Congress of the United States – the Republican Congress – directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. But now they’re trying to tell you that it doesn’t exist. That part of the website is called “Thomas”, in honor of Thomas Jefferson, who donated his collection of thousands of books to become the foundation of the Library of Congress.