Double Doody

You gotta love those paragons of virtue that run Washington. Nothing like taking it in the shorts before and after the fact. To whit:

The Before:
The House rules require that all conference reports (which is how the stimulus bill was reported to the floor of Congress for voting) be made publicly available for 48 hours before consideration (meaning: voting). The day before the stimulus bill was voted on, the House Rules Committee waived that requirement to allow the House leadership to bring the bill to floor immediately.

Apparently we need to start keeping a list. Here, let me get this started:

Things Public Servants don't need to do:

• Pay taxes (discussed earlier)
• Follow their own rules

The After:
On July 31st, 2007 the House overwhelmingly approved a sweeping lobbying and ethics reform bill on a 411-8 vote. Hmm with that kind of majority they must have really meant it!

“We have kept our promise to drain the swamp that is Washington, D.C.,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif. - we're sorry America) said, adding that the legislation is “historic.”

The bill requires lawmakers to identify earmarks included in bills and conference reports and post them on the Internet within 48 hours.

Well, the Stimulus package passed many days ago now.. and that didn't happen either. Let's just add that to our little 'ol list:



Things Public Servants don't need to do:

• Pay taxes (discussed earlier)
• Follow their own rules
• Follow the Ethics laws they pass