We've all been there. You have your assignment printed and ready to go, but are frantically scribbling down last minute additions in the desperate hope that you'll get a passing grade.
This was OK in high school English class, but what about in the U.S. Senate?
After several failed attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, Senate Republicans are really doing everythingthey can get a legislative win once and for all with their tax plan—including making hasty and nearly illegible handwritten notes and straight up crossed out sections of the bill.
SEE ALSO:Seth Meyers can't believe Republican party's post-election tax plan efforts
Their Democratic counterparts have been sharing photos of the absurdity, and they're not too happy about it.
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Okay this is absurd. One page of the new #GOPTaxPlan is crossed out with an ex. Another page is just a line. Is that a crossout? Is this page part of the bill? WHY AM I ASKING THESE QUESTIONS HOURS BEFORE WE VOTE ON IT?? #GOPTaxScam pic.twitter.com/57Qbi7gT5F
— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) December 1, 2017
Trying to review the #GOPTaxScam but they are making hand-written changes to brand new text as we speak – can anyone else read this? pic.twitter.com/JX8v1v4gyi
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 1, 2017
.@SenateMajLdr, if you are so intent on forcing middle class families to foot the bill so your donors can have a tax break, at least have the decency to find a printer. #GOPTaxScam pic.twitter.com/qFkfaru6ml
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) December 1, 2017
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana posted an angry video calling out his Republican counterparts and their scribbled legislative notes on Twitter. He said he had received his copy of the bill 25 minutes earlier, just a few hours before the Senate vote.
I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0
— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017
Just an hour before she had to report to the Senate floor for a vote, Sen. Elizabeth Warren also posted a video of her trying to read the messy bill. She couldn't.
No, I haven’t had time to read the 500-page #GOPTaxScam bill that we’re voting on tonight. I couldn’t read it if I tried – and I did. pic.twitter.com/WgoAT6rxuo
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 2, 2017
If passed by the Senate and the House and signed into law, the tax plan would make a massive cut to the corporate tax rate, give several tax cuts and benefits to the wealthiest Americans, and get rid of the individual health insurance mandate, among many, many other things.
With so many changes to the way our tax system works on the line, representatives should at least be able to know what decisions they're making on behalf of their constituents, because, you know ... democracy.
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