A new Direction in Government

[MrLabGuy]

Congressional Offices Don't Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do

We're receiving E-mails from Capitol Hill staffers expressing frustration that they can't get a copy of the stimulus bill agreed to last night at a price of $789 billion. What's more, staffers are complaining about who does have a copy: K Street lobbyists. E-mails one key Democratic staffer: "K Street has the bill, or chunks of it, already, and the congressional offices don't. So, the Hill is getting calls from the press (because it's leaking out) asking us to confirm or talk about what we know—but we can't do that because we haven't seen the bill. Anyway, peeps up here are sort of a combo of confused and like, 'Is this really happening?'" Reporters pressing for details, meanwhile, are getting different numbers from different offices, especially when seeking the details of specific programs.
Worse, there seem to be several different versions of what was agreed upon, with some officials circulating older versions of the package that seems to still be developing. Leadership aides said that it will work out later today and promised that lawmakers will get time to review the bill before Friday's vote.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washingt...byists-do.html

[X5rolls]

The people who voted for it have a copy no doubt.

[MrLabGuy]

Originally Posted by X5rolls

The people who voted for it have a copy no doubt.

Why do you assume that? I'd bet very few on the Hill have read through all 1075 pages of the latest version and even less read the earlier drafts.

[X5rolls]

Unlikely the sponsors who wrote the bill don't know what they wrote.

[MrLabGuy]

Originally Posted by X5rolls

Unlikely the sponsors who wrote the bill don't know what they wrote.

"The people who voted for it have a copy no doubt"

The sponsors are not the only ones who vote on the bills and even with that I doubt they personally read the entire bill. Besides, the original bill sponsored goes through several changes as it goes from house to house and all the sub-committees. It would take an unusually dedicated member of Congress to read every page. I'm sure there are a few but from what I understand that type of Representative is rare and the system in place usually does not allow time or as we see in this instance the resources to necessary to be thorough.

You might not know this but Nancy Pelosi and some other Democratic House leaders are rushing out for a trip to Europe so they are pushing this through quickly so they can get on the plane.

[Eric5273]

Sounds like the BS that went on when they voted on the Patriot Act back in 2001. Except for a few committee chairmen, most members had to vote on the bill without ever being allowed to see a copy of it. A summary was handed out instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdT0RNYoFfM

[MrLabGuy]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Sounds like the BS that went on when they voted on the Patriot Act back in 2001. Except for a few committee chairmen, most members had to vote on the bill without ever being allowed to see a copy of it. A summary was handed out instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdT0RNYoFfM

So I guess you agree this Congress and Administration is not much different than the last with one exception. They have total control with no effective opposition based on the numbers of Republican members in both houses.

[Eric5273]

Originally Posted by MrLabGuy

So I guess you agree this Congress and Administration is not much different than the last with one exception. They have total control with no effective opposition based on the numbers of Republican members in both houses.

Their ideology is different and a bit closer to what I agree with. But yes, in respect to the way they operate, I agree they are the same. The system has not been changed, only the people running it have changed. The problem is the system, not the people. You could get rid of every last person in Washington DC and get all new people, and in 20 years we would be back in the same place again. The system encourages corruption.