Obama, Reid, Pelosi burn billions behind closed doors

For officials who came into office promising to operate the most honest and transparent White House and Congress ever, President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seem determined to achieve exactly the opposite result. Their actions in securing passage of the $1 trillion economic stimulus bill – the total cost exceeds $1 trillion when interest is added to the $838 billion Senate or $827 billion House versions - would be laughable were not the consequences for the nation so dire. Take for example the trio’s determination to hustle the Senate-House conference committee to begin meeting within hours of Senate passage of the upper chamber’s compromise version.

Less than 48 hours elapsed between the time the text of the compromise became available for public examination late Saturday evening and yesterday’s 61-37 vote for passage. At that rate, the Senate effectively was spending about $300 million every minute while considering the compromise, and allowing taxpayers a scandalously brief opportunity to discover how the senators were doing it. But even before the votes on final Senate passage were counted, Reid left a White House meeting with Obama and Pelosi yesterday morning promising to convene the conference committee as soon as possible and predicting the “minor differences” between the two chambers’ bills would be worked out within 24 hours, with conferees working into the night.

Republicans demanded the conference committee meeting be televised. Sen. John Ensign, R-NV, observing that “for too long, these conference committees have been the smoke-filled backrooms that frustrate the American people.” The reality is that while the conference committee meetings might be open, the actual negotiations on the stimulus bill have taken place behind closed doors in the leadership offices. Neither Reid nor Pelosi are smokers, but they’ve been writing the biggest single spending bill in American history behind closed doors just as once routinely happened in those smoky Capitol corridor rooms. They are taking care of their favored special interests and handing taxpayers the bill. Sen. Carl Levin, D-MI, provided a suitable illustration here by going public with his request that the conferees add $7 billion in relief for General Motors from a tax liability, a move that will certainly aid, among others, the United Auto Workers. House Democrats also vowed to use the conference to restore billions of dollars in spending reductions approved by senators. No wonder House Democrats rejected House GOP leader John Boehner’s motion requiring the conference report be posted online for 48 hours before a final vote. The Sunlight Foundation's petition for a 72-hour waiting period makes even  more sense. And wasn't it Obama who promised to allow five-days of public examination before he signed any emergency bill?