On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) stated that he didn’t read all of the omnibus bill, but his staff did, he read “a good part” of the bill, and “a large part of this bill, we knew about months ago.”

Cardin said, “I can’t tell you that I read every page of it. My staff did. I read a good part of it. But, once again, a large part of this bill, we knew about months ago. Most of the appropriation issues have been through the committees. We had input. We’ve had conversations with the committee’s members and staff. So, there weren’t any surprises in there, in regards to a lot of what’s in this bill. A lot of other provisions, we’ve been working on for a long time, various issues, from dealing with the tax issue that had to be corrected, the Low Income-Housing Tax Credit. … Many of us on the Finance Committee have been engaged on it.”

Cardin did admit that there are problems with the budgeting process, and the public should be able to understand and have input on bills before they’re voted on.

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