What's Up With The Clerk of the House?

In April, we learned that the 2005 pork-laden transportation bill signed by the President was not the same bill passed by Congress.

Now, we learn that the text of the farm bill sent to the President for signature -- which he vetoed -- was missing 34-pages.

It is the Clerk of the House who is responsible for preparing the final form of the bill as it was agreed to by both Houses so that it can be passed on to the President. The bills are then signed by the Speaker of the House and by the Vice President, acting as the President of the Senate, or the President pro tempore of the Senate.

These incidents occurred during the tenure of two different Clerks, one under Republican appointment and one under Democratic appointment. The errors may reflect the complexity of modern legislation, which can have hundreds of amendments and run to hundreds of pages. Who knows if these are the only such incidents?

The current farm bill sunsets on Friday; Congress should have sufficient votes to over-ride another promised veto, since the Republicans swarmed to the election-year Christmas tree. President Bush had vetoed nine bills before this one; Congress has only been able to muster votes for one over-ride.