FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
With Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats unveiling their 1,990 page health care reform bill - it made us wonder about other landmark pieces of legislation in U.S. history and how long they were.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/30/art.boehner.bill.jpg caption=" House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is pictured behind a printout of the 2,000 page health care reform bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill yesterday."]
- The original draft of the 1935 Economic Security Act, which established the Social Security Administration was 64 pages
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - forbidding discrimination based on race and sex: 8 pages
- The 19th amendment to the Constitution, giving Women the right to vote in 1920: 1 page
- The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863: 5 pages
- Or, if you really want to get back to basics: The Declaration of independence came in at 1 page in 1776
- And the Constitution: 4 pages long in 1787
- Health care reform, Pelosi version - almost 2,000 pages.
The Democrats say they'll post the final version online for lawmakers and the public to read 72 hours before a vote. Good luck reading 2,000 pages in 72 hours.
Meanwhile although the Democrats keep talking about openness and transparency in this process, there are reports that they blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony for their health care bill outside of the Capitol yesterday. Videos online show people - not on a pre-approved guest list - being turned away.
Note to Nancy Pelosi: You people don't own the Capitol - we do.
Here’s my question to you: If it took 64 pages to create Social Security, why does it take 2,000 pages to reform health care?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Jim writes:
That's due to the litigious swamp that the current health care system has created, and the need to overwrite legislation as a consequence. Simple language just won't hold up in court!
Rich writes:
I see 3 issues: 1) 2,000 pages and only 72 hours for the public to review – so much for the so-called transparency of government. The only explanation for the time limit on a bill this size is to keep the voting public uneducated as to what is really in it. 2) The number of "pet projects" the Pelosi regime can piggyback in a bill this size. 3) The ability of our government (specifically the judiciary system) to understand and enforce a bill of this size.
Fran writes:
Yes, the documents you mention were considerably shorter than the current health reform bill, but they were drafted in simpler times with fewer competing interests to consider. And how many pages of amendments, related legislation and court opinions have been added to those simple documents since - all required to keep them relevant and useful in our complicated age?
Joe writes:
Jack, You know about smoke grenades, right? You make enough smoke and folks can't see what you are really doing. Lawyers have been using them for years!
Don writes:
The length of this bill is proportionate to the number of people they have to please to get it done. I would rather see a 50-page base package that we, the American public, could read, grasp and discuss. But that makes too much sense, and we're talking about Washington. Change, I don't think so!
B. from Mississippi writes:
My daughter was born with hydroencephalitis. Next year, when she's 24, my plan won't cover her anymore. I don't really care how long the bill is, or whether Nancy Pelosi let in some folks who wanted to watch the 'unveiling' of the bill in public instead of on TV. I just want the bill to pass.