Dept. of the Obvious...

...but I suppose it should be clearly stated by everyone who knows what they're talking about: Members of Congress don't need to read bills. In fact, Members of Congress shouldn't waste their time reading bills.

Whether they've actually read a bill has nothing to do with whether they understand what's in the bill, and whether they have enough information to cast an informed vote.

I'm tempted to believe that the side reduced to this sort of "argument" is the side without a decent case, but alas that isn't true; the reality is that all sides will tend to embrace whichever rhetoric polls well, or (even worse) appeared to be effective in a focus group.

But "read the bill" is an annoyingly stupid and dishonest slogan.