Congressmen Can't Get Copy Of Bill, But Lobbyists Have It

Hello, American Press!?! ANYBODY HOME?!?!

Because we've been reading about how the Democrats (and ONLY the Democrats) hammered together the Senate and House spending spree bills into one 1400+ page monstrosity "with lightning speed". First, can you even wrap your head around that? A handful of lawyers "with lightning speed" put together a 1400+ page legal document. When was the last time a bunch of lawyers, acting honestly and with due diligence put together a 1400+ page document in a day?!

Americans, before this even came out, were telling pollsters that they didn't believe Congress would even know what they were voting on. Top that off by watching one of the Democrats-in-Republican's clothing explain how clueless he was about the Senate version before. At that point, Specter said he would "make sure" that the language that allowed a board of elitists decide who could get what kind of health care (this is what is known as the "rationing" part of socialized health care, folks) was "fixed". But what really happened, instead of it getting "fixed"? Socialized medicine in the bill got EXPANDED. One of the lucky few that got a look at it reports:

Of the 1434 pages, pages 806-1251 are dedicated to the expansion of the federal health care bureaucracy. (That is, not including the COBRA, Medicaid, etc. expansion that begins on page 1278.)

Yup, of the 1400+ pages of this "STIMULUS" bill - 450 of them are devoted to the first stages of full-blown socialized medicine in America. For those that like percentages - thats about 1/3 or 33% of the "STIMULUS" bill that is actually about revising health care.

And now the latest outrage of this outrageous fiasco - many congressional offices can't even get a copy of the bill to review! But it seems that lobbyists aren't having any trouble at all: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:

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.

Read that again and then CALL ALL YOUR CONGRESSMEN! Pelosi and Reid, after hammering this out "at lightning speed!" plan to hold a vote on it TODAY and as of 4 PM yesterday, CONGRESS HASN'T EVEN SEEN COPIES OF THIS 1400+ PAGE BILL! They're going to spend A TRILLION DOLLARS without even READING THE BILL!

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UPDATE:

Democrats admit they have no time to read bill. Republicans are also saying they won't have to read it, but except for a few that clearly have no interest in their constituencies or the rest of America, they will not be voting 'yes' on it.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted on Thursday that none of his Senate colleagues would "have the chance" to read the entire final version of the $790-billion stimulus bill before the bill comes up for a final vote in Congress.

“No, I don’t think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill],” Lautenberg told CNSNews.com...

When CNSNews.com asked members of both parties on Capitol Hill on Thursday whether they had read the full, final bill, not one member could say, "Yes."

And only one--Voinovich--volunteered that he had actually read the version of the bill that had passed the Senate...

Some lawmakers said one of the reasons they would not vote for the bill was because there would be no time to study it before it came up for a vote.

“The Democrats have thrown this at us very last-minute,” said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)...

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), President Barack Obama's successor in the Senate, seemed baffled by the thought of actually reading the entire bill--as did his press secretary...

The bill is expected to land on President Obama’s desk no later than Monday, and the president is expected to sign it into law--whether the nation's lawmakers have read it or not.