No time for fine print

Politics: Lawmakers fast-track energy and health legislation without warning labels for taxpayers | Edward Lee Pitts

Robert Giroux/Getty Images

With the clock running down on House Democrats' pledge to pass a climate change bill before July 4th, anxious Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., tried to cut short House Minority Leader John Boehner's protest speech.

"Is this an attempt to try to get some people to leave on a close vote?" Waxman asked June 26 amid laughter from Democrats on the House floor.

Told that House custom places no time limit on leaders, Boehner, R-Ohio, grinned and pressed on—for more than an hour. "This is the biggest job-killing bill that's ever been on the floor of the House," he protested to Republican applause. Boehner, tearing a page from the Senate filibuster playbook, recited long sections from a 300-page amendment added at 3 a.m. The soliloquy included sections creating "energy-efficient loan standards" and "green" banking centers. "Don't you think the American people expect us to understand what's in this bill before we vote on it?"