The Baucus Bill is out... 1,502 Pages of Gobbledygook Legalese

[lib2DaBone]

Will anyone in CONgress read this 1,502 page monster?

Will it be secreted through at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night after the close of the news cycle? (Like Patriot Act I and II and the Military Commissions Act)

Big Insurance writes the laws... our elected leaders rubber-stamp it... and they call this "Democracy"?

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(snip)

All of this is pretty meaningless in the real world, of course, but when it comes to politics, these kinds of things can be important. One way opponents were able to score points against the Clinton plan was by attacking it for its length. Most of us don't know how long a normal bill is, how complicated the language is or why legislation tends to take up this much paper; going after the proposal by simply pointing out that it's over 1,500 pages long is a simple, straightforward attack that tends to make people think -- true or not -- that the law would be as complicated and as intrusive as Republicans say it will be.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/?last_story=/politics/war_room/2009/10/19/baucus_bill/

[ThomWV]

1. Plenty of paper for the bottom of the bird cage

[msongs]

2. wow those corporate emplyees & lobbyists who wrote it must be tired this morning nt

[Pab Sungenis]

3. You all only have yourselves to blame.

I warned you what we'd have if we didn't pressure the Democrats to kill the Baucus Bill in committee. A lot of people on here laughed at me about it and made "any change is good change" noises. Now go read the bill you chose to saddle America with.

[jaxx]

4. Is this the final senate bill?

I must have missed the part about the committee to get one bill out of the Finance and HELP bills.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. This will form the basis of the "merged" bill.

Mark my words.

[jaxx]

7. I disagree.

It will be a part of the merged bill but I hardly think the HELP bill will be ignored.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. Again, we shall see.

The two worst aspects of this bill - the lack of a public option and the individual mandates with possible criminal penalties - are all but assured to be in the "merged" bill.

I'd almost bet that the only thing to survive from the HELP bill in this merger is Kennedy's name, to lend it legitimacy.

[AndyA]

5. Also known as the

Protect Health Insurance Company Profits and Fuck Average Americans Bill.

I hope the people in Montana kick Baucus' butt so hard he can't sit down for a month. And then when he goes in for treatment, I hope his insurance premiums triple.

Baucus = Corrupt Asshole.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. Of course it's in legalese and of course it's long. Did you think they were going to write a bill

in slang?

You have to read through 2 pages of legal nonsense to buy a song off iTunes.

I never understood complaints about the length of bills.

[dionysus]

10. maybe some were expecting a ten page bill that would solve everything.

:shrug:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. The snip the OP included points out that complaints about the length of the bill are silly

[Festivito]

12. I am not recommending the bill, just DU telling us it's here. /nt