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November 14, 2009
U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam Delivers Health Care Bill to Library
Congressman Roskam delivering the almost 2,000 page health care bill to the Wheaton Public Library.
Roskam, R-6th District, of Wheaton, accompanied by his wife Elizabeth and staff, dropped it on the desk of the library's reference counter and told a library employee that he wanted the library to have a physical copy of the bill because it could crash computers when downloaded.
"Two thousand pages, it’s almost twice as long as the previous bill, HR 3200, that had been introduced in July and got a pretty bad reception from the public,” Roskam said in an interview immediately after he delivered the bill.
While the delivery of the bill was a planned event to which media was invited, Roskam said his interest was that the public has access to it.
“Who knows what's in this thing?” he said.
Sarah Meisels, library director, said the bill will be made available to anyone interested in looking at it.
“It’s at the reference desk. But who’s gonna read over 1,000 pages, and if they do, who’s gonna understand it?” Meisels said.
She said the bill is also available for people to photocopy.
Roskam said the bill, with a price tag of nearly $900 billion, cuts to Medicaid, potential to raise taxes on small businesses, and mandate that American citizens purchase a government-approved insurance policy, will have an impact on every one of his constituents.
Roskam said he has not yet read the bill and will require help from his staff to do so before the bill is voted on later this week.
“You don’t read legislation like a novel, though, you’ve got to break it down,” he said.
Shannon O'Brien, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-14th District, of Geneva — whose district borders the western edge of Wheaton — said Foster is nearly halfway through the bill.
“The congressman is actually reading the legislation right now,” O'Brien said. “... (Foster has) said the devil is in the details and he wanted to analyze it before he made a decision (on whether he supports the bill).”
Wild Thing's comment.......
This is a great idea. He at least is trying to make it so people can read the monster of a bill.
Posted by Wild Thing at November 14, 2009 04:44 AM
Comments
Actually it is 2000 pages of obituary for American freedom.
Posted by: TomR at November 14, 2009 12:32 PM
