Sen. Ron Johnson says he will make Senate clerk read through the entire coronavirus relief bill

The reading is expected to take hours.
Sen. Ron Johnson in December 2020

Sen. Ron Johnson is going to call for the Senate clerk to read the lengthy coronavirus relief bill, a reading which will take hours.

"I'm going to make the Senate clerk read the Democrats' $1.9 trillion bill. All several hundred pages of it. Then I'm going to offer amendments. Many amendments. We need to highlight the abuse. This is not a COVID relief bill. It's a boondoggle for Democrats," Johnson tweeted.

While a senator may insist a bill be read on the chamber floor, the formality is usually skipped through unanimous consent, according to The Hill. The time it takes for the bill to be read will be in addition to the 20 hours of debate time scheduled for the proposal.

"I'm told it's going to be more like 10 [hours]. It's going to occur at the beginning so it would be before the clocks starts so it doesn't go against the 20 hours, it's on top of the 20," Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota, said, according to the outlet.