Matt Yglesias posts a chart of major pieces of legislation Congress has voted on recently, and how much time they were given to read it between introduction of the final bill and the vote. Add ‘em up and divide ‘em, and on these bills, our elected legislators were given on average one hour to read every 89.61 pages of law. That’s 89 pages of laws you and I are expected to abide by. That includes time for reading, rereading, researching, and consulting with experts, constituents, and colleagues. That also assumes legislators immediately drop what they’re doing and read the bills the moment they come out of the conference committee.
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” - Mark Twain
“Congress consists of one-third, more or less, scoundrels; two-thirds, more or less, idiots; and three-thirds, more or less, poltroons.” - H.L. Mencken
