Max Baucus wrote the healthcare bill but did not read it?

  Much has been made about the politicians who voted in favor of the healthcare reform legislation without actually knowing what was in it because they didn’t even bother to read what they were voting on, but this takes the cake. Max Baucus is credited with writing the unpopular legislation but at a recent public meeting–when confronted with the question of whether or not he read the healthcare bill–Max Baucus admitted that he had not read the healthcare reform bill before voting on it. 

I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We hire experts”

  Reading a bill before voting on it is a waste of time? This is the man who supposedly wrote the bill and he voted on it without knowing what the hell was in the bill. Actually Max, we do want you to read what you are voting on, that shouldn’t be too much to ask and if you feel that the bill is incomprehensible you should scrap it and write something that you understand. That would be the responsible thing to do. If you feel that reading a bill that you are about to vote on is a waste of time perhaps it is time for you to resign and afford somebody who is willing to do the job the opportunity to step forward and do what is right by the American people.

  Experts were hired? Does this mean that experts were hired to read the bill or write the bill–or both? What he is admitting here is that the language of the bill was beyond not only his comprehension, but beyond the comprehension of almost everyone that voted on the bill. How can anyone in good conscience vote in favor of a bill that admittedly most of them could not understand?

  And who were these experts if they were not people who had a vested interest in this legislation, ie special interest groups? These politicians who sold us down the river put their faith in special interest groups to write the healthcare reform legislation and nobody knew what the bill actually said because as Max Baucus admitted experts were hired and the politicians took the word of these experts at face value.

  This goes beyond irresponsible. Why do we even bother to hire people to represent us when they are voting on issues that they admit they do not comprehend?