Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz agreed with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that it is “absurd” lawmakers voting on the stimulus package only have a limited amount of time to read it.
“Congress is expected to vote on the second largest bill in US history *today* – $2.5 trillion – and as of about 1pm, members don’t even have the legislative text of it yet,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Monday.
“It’s not good enough to hear about what’s in the bill. Members of Congress need to see & read the bills we are expected to vote on,” she continued. “I know it’s ‘controversial’ & I get in trouble for sharing things like this, but the people of this country deserve to know. They deserve better.”
Cruz responded with support, as well as the hashtag “#CongressIsBroken.”
“@AOC is right. It’s ABSURD to have a $2.5 trillion spending bill negotiated in secret and then—hours later—demand an up-or-down vote on a bill nobody has had time to read,” he said.
.@AOC is right.
It’s ABSURD to have a $2.5 trillion spending bill negotiated in secret and then—hours later—demand an up-or-down vote on a bill nobody has had time to read. #CongressIsBroken https://t.co/EQp8BfRBHj
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 21, 2020
Congressional leaders announced Sunday that a deal had been reached on the package, and votes are expected Monday, the same day the legislation was posted.
Cruz and Ocasio-Cortez were not the only lawmakers to decry the short amount of time to read the text, with others also taking to Twitter.
Have the official version of the omnibus bill now. My bootleg copy was just over 3,000 pages. The official bill is 5,600.
— Morgan Griffith (@RepMGriffith) December 21, 2020
Looks like this is going to be another ”we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” kind of vote. https://t.co/nVsVrlggHl
— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) December 21, 2020
