Vote Now, Read Later?

Vote Now, Read Later?

You don't need superstition to realize that this Friday the 13th is shaping up to be particularly unlucky for taxpayers. Despite protests from both parties, House and Senate leaders are forcing a stimulus vote at 6:00 p.m. so that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can catch a flight to Italy. Apparently, the Speaker's Roman holiday (fiddle included, considered "official business" since it includes a stopover at NATO headquarters) takes precedence over the largest piece of spending legislation ever considered by Congress. Pelosi, 13 members, and their spouses plan to take a lovely Valentine's jaunt through Paris, Brussels, and Vienna on your dime to celebrate a stimulus package that only 37% of Americans support. The new vote deadline also breaks the liberals' vow that both chambers--and the public--would have 48 hours to read the bill. Democrats like Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) are just as frustrated as everyone else. "I don't think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill]," he said. It would be no small feat to comb through the legislation since the final version was posted online a little before 11:00 p.m. Thursday and now numbers 1,071 pages--903 more than the King James Bible in my office! For a team who insisted on bipartisanship, Pelosi and company will be fortunate to appease their own party. Meanwhile, the $1.3 trillion package grows more unpopular every day. FRC has complained from the beginning that the stimulus is a government build-up, not a financial bailout. Yesterday, a coalition of economists agreed, saying the bill is "short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won't stimulate economic activity." The conference bill makes tax relief smaller and federal spending bigger. At last count, a whopping 104 government programs will be created or expanded through the legislation. The tax cuts are so minimal that working taxpayers are expected to take home a measly $7.70 a week from the "stimulus" while they pay billions more for: school construction ($9 billion), liberal reelection campaigns ($2 billion for ACORN), welfare incentives ("such sums as are necessary"), socialized medicine ($87 billion), finger-painting ($50 million for an "Arts Endowment"), and unknown millions for agency "slush funds," which would allow Obama to shuffle money between departments without any congressional oversight. Additional Resources CNN: House passes $787B stimulus

From Family Research Counsel