White House Whines, "How DARE They Read The Bill !"

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs blasted Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC for requesting that the START treaty be read out loud in its entirety before the senate debates and votes on the measure.Oral readings of bills are usually scrapped by lawmakers reaching a unanimous consent agreement. Reading the entire START treaty  could take around 12 hours as the Senate tries to wrap up its business before Christmas.

“This is a new low in putting political stunts ahead of our national security, and it is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing that the American people are sick of,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Gibbs noted that some senators – Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., most prominently -- have expressed “concern that the Senate doesn’t have time to debate the Treaty,” but DeMint “wants to waste 12 hours to read the text of a treaty that has been available to every member of the Senate and the public for more than eight months. This Treaty has been the subject of nearly 20 Senate hearings and 1,000 questions, and is supported by President George H.W. Bush, every living Republican Secretary of State, our NATO allies, and the military leadership of the United States of America. Every minute that the START Treaty is being read on the Senate floor increases the time that we lack verification of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.”

The White House press secretary called it “the height of hypocrisy to complain that there is not enough time to consider this Treaty, while wasting so much time reading aloud a document that was submitted to the Senate months ago.”

Jim DeMint, said the moves were intended as a way to force lawmakers to slow down and learn what’s actually contained within the legislation.

In case Gibbs and his progressive army has short term memory problems, there are a few good reasons why DeMint was asking for the treaty to be read. Like this: (if you cannot see videos below click here)



or this:



or even This:



During the past two years this congress passed an Stimulus, Cap and Trade and the first incarnation of the Obamacare bill ALL without reading the dammned thing.

A DeMint spokesman says that "despite repeated requests, the Obama Administration has refused to share the full negotiating record of the START Treaty with the Senate. ...The Senate needs to have a full debate next Congress over the weaknesses of this treaty that could seriously limit America's missile defenses that protect our nation and our allies."

Senate Republicans are also planning on forcing a reading of the omnibus spending bill. DeMint said in a statement that “President Obama and Democrats have apparently learned nothing from this November’s election” as evidenced by the fact that the massive spending bill is “filled with thousands of earmarks …Democrats are intent on raiding every taxpayer dollar that they can grab from the Treasury on their way out of power.”

DeMint should be commended for his action, as for the White House, they should Shut up and listen to the people.