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Democratic Senator Predicts None of His Colleagues 'Will Have the Chance' to Read Final Stimulus Bill Before Vote |
2009-02-13 |
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. The final bill, crafted by a House-Senate conference committee, was posted on the Website of the House Appropriations Committe late Thurday in two PDF files. The first PDF was 424 pages long and the second PDF was 575 pages long, making the total bill 999 pages long. The House is expected to vote on this 999-page bill Friday, and the Senate either later Friday or Saturday. [Editor's note: The first PDF, as posted on the House Appropriations Committee website as of 8:20 AM Friday morning, had grown by 72 pages to 496 pages, increasing the length of the total document to 1,071 pages.] Of the several senators that CNSNews.com interviewed on Thursday, only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) claimed to have read the entire bill--and he was speaking of the preliminary version that had been approved by the Senate, not the final 999-page version that the House-Senate conference committee was still haggling over on Thursday afternoon. 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." |
Posted by:Fred |
#5 this is a letter a fellow constituent of mine sent to our Rep who read it in congress and then voted No on the stimulus package. Dear Congressman McCotter, I spoke with you on WJR Friday morning and want to thank you for your kindness and patience. I couldn’t get out everything I wanted to say because of my frustration. I would love to talk before Congress and the Senate. I would like to talk to them about the deplorable, reprehensible, and egregious waste they are considering with our tax dollars. I’m sorry this is long, but I want them to see what I see. The wasteful spending they are considering is unconscionable to me. And I would like to ask them a few questions. You see, I just lost my job. The company I worked for is eliminating 700 sales positions nationwide, about 15 will be affected in Michigan. I would like to ask the Congress and Senate if they know what it’s like to sit at the dinner table and tell your 11 year old daughter that she can’t get a school yearbook because we need the money to buy groceries. And the stimulus package wants to give $4 Billion to ACORN, a company, I believe, that is under investigation for voter registration fraud. What jobs are they creating? Do they know what it’s like to see the tears in your wife’s eyes when you tell her the conference call you were on just eliminated your position? And the stimulus package wants to spend $335 million on STD prevention? What jobs does that create? Do they know what it feels like to tell your father in law that the daughter I married and promised to provide for that you just lost your job? And Barack Obama spends money on overseas abortions. And then says we need to end the politics of this issue. If he believed that he wouldn’t have done it, his decision was nothing but political. What jobs in the U.S. does that create? Do they know what it feels like to return the shirts you just bought for work, on clearance, because you really needed new shirts and now you don’t even have a job? And Congress is taking an extra $93,000 each for petty cash increases. And WE are told to cut back on our spending? When I told my 7 year old son we had to make cuts he just wanted to know if we could still have our Sunday morning treat of a donut before we go to church. That’s all he wanted. I said we’d try our best. We’ve made sacrifices but you haven’t. And do you know how it feels when you hear that companies given bail out money from TARP funds gave $18 Billion in bonuses? I’m wondering if I have enough money to pay my bills for 2 months. All they get is a mild rebuke from Washington saying, “You shouldn’t do that in these tough economic times.” They are an embarrassment. They should be forced to give back the $18 Billion with interest and penalties. Do they know what it’s like to speak with someone who was in tears over losing their job because they think they’ll lose their house? How about the always upbeat guy who sounded depressed that he could lose his house because he just lost his job? And yet the stimulus package is loaded with pork. Do you know what it’s like to have another coworker lose their job and are worried their spouse’s could be next? And this stimulus package wants $400 Million for HIV prevention. How does that create jobs? Do they know how fearful it is to turn your heat down at night to 59 degrees and 65 in the day when your child is asthmatic and it can flare up from the cold? We can’t afford to raise our heat and the stimulus package wants to spend $75 Million on anti smoking ads. How does that create jobs? By the way that’s $810 Million for pet projects. I have an idea stop having sex until your married and quit smoking! There’s your awareness program, that didn’t cost a dime. If they don’t know by now they don’t care. The insults you pay to our auto executives when they ask for and interest bearing LOAN by asking them how they flew here. But when the banking industry seemingly makes a few phone calls they have $350 Billion given to them and we don’t even know where it went, except for the $18 Billion. Do they know about the guy I just met whose entire company just took 20% pay cuts so they wouldn’t have to lay off employees? And this stimulus bill wants Million for sod on the new mall that’s already $600 million over budget. How is that creating jobs? Recent polls show that less than 50% of Americans approve of this stimulus bill and yet Congress, with their recent 11% approval rating, the worst in history, tries to ram this bill down our throats. The send it to the Democratic Senate and tell us they know what’s best for our country. According to that 11%, I guess. Congress is supposed to govern for the people and not for themselves and yet when less than 50% approve of a plan they approve it anyway. Why doesn’t the Senate have the guts to reject the pork spending portions of this bill and start over? Why don’t you get off your Ivory tower, pork barrel, ear marked, pet project behinds and do what we need of you? Congressman McCotter, that’s what I’d like to say to the Senate. I would gladly go before them so they can hear what it’s like in the real world. Sincerely, Greg from Milford |
Posted by: Unens McGurque aka Broadhead6 2009-02-13 21:04 |
#4 You can if it's made searchable, Last. Sometimes I ask the IT people to make a large one searchable if I need to use it a lot. I don't know what they do, but it comes back searchable. |
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-02-13 19:11 |
#3 Ya know ya can't word search a pdf file. heh |
Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2009-02-13 17:00 |
#2 Unless they read at about 620 words per minute. Ask your local friendly lobbyist, got a copy before any pol did. heh |
Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2009-02-13 16:58 |
#1 Not much new here. Congresspeople seldom bother to read the stuff they pass, this has been the case for years now. |
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-02-13 14:14 |