I agree with most of the OP's post...here we sit, on our hands, watching a group of elected politicians,
slam through a 1100 page "bill" that received at best, a cursory read barely in parts, by some of their staffers.
And, not just a jumbo sized bill full of "who knows what/how it really gets spent/where does the dough come
from" language, but a jumbo spending bill that was seemingly given so little consideration by the drafters and authors.
Oh, I forgot: much of the draft was done by the K Street Lobbyists; they certainly should know what's
best for the country, best for the economy and best for us.
This entire "stimulus bill", and its process, is absurd, imo. As a continual ranter here, about
politics/gov't out of control, this may be a new high sewer water mark.
BR,OlUncMtr
A snippet from Saturday's WSJ opin page:
'In his closing remarks on the stimulus bill yesterday, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey called it "the largest change in domestic policy since the 1930s." We'd say more like the 1960s, which is bad enough, but his point about the bill's magnitude is right. The 1,073-page monstrosity includes the biggest spending increase since World War II, but more important is the fine print expanding the role of the federal government across the breadth of American business, health care, energy and welfare policy.
Given those stakes, you might think Congress would get more than a few hours to debate it. But, no, yesterday's roll
call votes came less than 24 hours after House-Senate conferees had agreed to their deal. Democrats rushed the bill to
the floor before Members could even read it, much less have time to broadcast the details so the public could offer its verdict.
So much for Democratic promises of a new era of transparency. Only this Tuesday the House unanimously approved a resolution promising 48-hour public notice before holding a roll call.
Even better, the bill could have been posted on
the Internet, as candidate Barack Obama suggested during the campaign. Let voters see what they're getting for all
this money. Not a chance.' (Italics & Bold in quoted paragraphs are mine.)