Shock! Anger! Disbelief! GOP Senators insist that Lieberman-Warner actually be read! Oh, the horror!

So what if it imposes the largest single tax increase in American history without ever calling it a tax? So what if it creates the biggest expansion of the federal bureaucracy since FDR was New Dealing in the White House? So what if it will millions of Americans their jobs and set America's economy back decades?

Why should the Senate have to actually hear what's in the Lieberman-Warner bill?

That's the cry of the left as Senate GOPers today refused to allow the Senate to proceed with consideration of Lieberman-Warner without the full text of the bill being read aloud. Here's how the National Wildlife Federation's Jeremy Symons puts it:

"Senate Republicans are literally throwing the book at this bill to help oil companies block any action on global warming and a clean energy future. By stalling this bill, Senate Republicans can only stall America's economy. We need to jumpstart our economy with action now to invest in new technology and create clean energy jobs.

"The choice is clear - recharge the economy or let it sit in neutral. Move forward with legislation that addresses an enormous problem while transforming our energy future or stick your head in the sand and hide behind Big Oil propaganda. 

"America is ready for a new energy future. If opponents succeed in blocking action on climate change, they will block America's path to a new and stronger economy. The Climate Security Act deserves real debate, not Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's procedural trickery and delay tactics."

Ah, so that's it - it's Big Oil demanding that senators actually read the bill before they vote on it. It's only "real debate" if  everybody just ignores what the bill says and goes ahead and trusts the National Wildlife Federation and the rest of the environmental community that it will all be ok.

I say every senator and representative should be required to read every bill they are asked to vote on and to sign a statement attesting to the fact they have done so. And the bill text should be read on the floor in public in its entirety and posted on the Internet for at least 72 hours prior to final voting.

And the smart folks at ReadtheBill.org agree.