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Some House Republicans Learn That the Bill They Voted For Has Stuff They Don’t Like
What stuff? And what will happen now?
U.S. Representatives had eight hours to read President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill before voting on it on May 22nd. If you’re into excuses, add the word “only” before eight. Otherwise,…
There are 435 representatives in the U.S. House. They are assisted by 10,463 staffers. Legislative staffers can be called on to work even during nighttime hours whenever Republicans try to get something passed while unsuspecting reporters are asleep. Staffers are on call even when their bosses are notified of a vote to be counted in eight hours.
Eight hours to read the Big Beautiful Bill’s 1,037 pages and help their bosses decide on a yay or nay vote. Hmm. Here’s how this works out:
- 10,463 / 435 = about 24 staffers available to each representative to read the bill’s 1,037 pages
- 1,037 / 24 = about 43 pages assigned to each staffer to read and report on in eight hours
- 43 / 8 = about 5 1/2 pages per hour per staffer
Some 40 years ago, I took a newspaper copyediting class at the University of Indiana. Our final exam required us to edit news articles on 25 pages typed in 12-point Courier font — in 50…
