House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(CNSNews.com) - House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) admitted on Thursday morning that he had not read the 1,648 page National Defense Authorization Bill that the House plans to vote on this afternoon.
The final text of the bipartisan bill was only released by the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate armed services committees late Tuesday night and posted online by the House at 10:32 p.m. that day.
CNSNews.com asked Hoyer: “Have you read all 1,648 pages of the final text of the National Defense Authorization Bill?”
Hoyer said: “No”
CNSNews.com asked: “Are you planning on reading it before you vote on it?”
Hoyer said: “The committees have gone over it, it’s been in conference, and I have an outline of exactly what it does. So, I know what it does.”
CNSNews.com asked: “So that’s how you’ll know what’s in it?”
Hoyer said: “Sure.”
By contrast, House Speaker John Boehner hedged when CNSNews.com asked him if had read the 1,648-page bill. “I’ve been through almost every part of that bill, as it was being put together," Boehner said. "So, trust me, I am well aware of what’s in that bill.”
The bill, which is supposed to authorize the activities of the Department of Defense and defense-related activities in the Department of Energy, also includes provisions creating a number of new national parks and a federal commission to come up with a plan for a National Museum of Women’s History.