We elected children to represent us

The Hill --

The Senate is about to vote on the US-Russian nuclear arms treaty and a $1.1 trillion 1900 page Omnibus spending Bill.


Congressman John Conyers asked the question, " I love these members that get up and say, Read the bill! Well, what good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you’ve read the bill? "

Good question -- despite the fact that it's your job and in a 2000+ document it's too easy to HIDE little things like the 1099 for purchases over $600 requirement...
sometimes we learn from our mistakes... especially when you have the attitude of Nancy Pelosi who says, "we have to pass the bill to know what's in it."

WRONG!

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has an idea,

If our respected senators won't or can't do their homework as Congressman John Conyers points out before voting on an issue then let's do like we used to do at school...

We will read the bill aloud before class err, I mean Senate by invoking senatorial privilege to ask that the text for both the new Start Treaty and the 2011 Omnibus spending Bill be read out loud on the Senate floor.

of course, that suggestion was met with overall enthusiasm...

" "This is a new low in putting political stunts ahead of our national security, and it is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing that the American people are sick of," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs shot back in a strongly-worded statement. "While some express concern that the Senate doesn’t have time to debate the Treaty, Senator DeMint wants to waste 12 hours to read the text of a treaty that has been available to every member of the Senate and the public for more than eight months."

that's the point Mr. Gibbs, they are NOT reading the bills and what the public is sick of is that WE ARE THE ONES WHO PAY THE PRICE FOR YOU NOT DOING YOUR JOB!

The White House of course strongly urges the Senate to ratify the START treaty before leaving for Christmas and has commented that President Obama will not leave for his [quarterly] vacation in Hawaii until the bill is ratified.

I don't know if this is possible but I would take Sen. Jim DeMint suggestion one step further and REQUIRE the Senate to be present on the floor during a reading to qualify to vote on either of these bills.