Do Members Of Congress Even Remember What They Voted On?

While this is a brief primer on Congressman Joe Wilson, it is also a rather interesting perspective on all members of Congress. The quesiton is, do they not only remember what they voted on, but do they even care?

in 2003, Wilson voted to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants’ healthcare. The vote came on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011 authorizing $250,000 annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants. The program has been extended through 2009 and there is currently a bipartisan bill in Congress to make it permanent.

While Wilson's childish outburst is becoming even more pathetically false as each day passes, the fact that Congress is actually given credance to his distortions is shaping up to be more troubling. But that aside, one has to question whether these conservatives that are clamouring for people to "read the bill" ever even read what they had passed before.

I'm sure that it is difficult for every member of Congress to recall every single vote, but it shouldn't be that hard for someone like Wilson - how is apparently quite passionate about this particular point - to remember something like providing money to illegal immigrants for healthcare on a bill that was passed just around 6 years ago.