The answer, of course, is that everyone sincerely agreed it would be beneficial to have the quacks wear wizard hats (to keep them from getting a big head)

What? You’re either speaking from the perspective of an American, or a non-American.

They might have read it, thought it was funny, and approved it anticipating someone else blocking or vetoing it.

I mean, it's certainly true that lots of gigantic, complicated bills don't get read properly by politicians before voting on them. But this is about a paragraph and written in clear English, so you'd imagine it would have a good chance of getting read.