Surprise! U.S. Senate to Vote on Another Phantom Jobs Bill

Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:28 PM

Well, we're not really surprised.  After all, in spite of all the posturing about how open this Congress was going to be, we've seen (or really not seen) an awful lot of closed door meetings and bill draftings with little or no time for taxpayers to review legislation.  So why should things be any different now?  

Well, maybe because recent elections (such as in Massachusetts) have made clear that taxpayers want transparency and less spending from their elected officials. But then again, if you look at the President's budget, one would have to think the recent elections never happened, either. They certainly don't seem to have resonated with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

So now, Senator Reid has announced that his chamber will be voting on a "jobs bill" on Monday.  However, apart from a few bullet points, nobody has seen any language.

Reports ABC News's The Note:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this morning at a press conference that there will be a vote in the Senate on Monday on a “jobs bill.” It would be a procedural vote to start debating the bill.

The problem is, nobody has yet written one down. And reporters at Reid’s press conference, called to announce a new “jobs agenda,” were given an impressive-looking packet with a cover sheet that reads “Democratic Jobs Agenda” with the sub-headline “Putting America Back to Work.”

But underneath the cover page is 2.5 pages of bullet-point ideas with no specifics.

(...)

Reid predicted there will be a bipartisan press conference Thursday or Friday to unveil a bipartisan bill.

But that leaves scant time to craft legislative language, generate an official cost estimate, or have a floor debate.

Even if they unveil legislative language between today and tomorrow, with the weekend in between that and Monday's vote, it certainly doesn't allow for sufficient time for taxpayers to review the legislation, and as The Note points out, there will hardly be a fiscal estimate available.

So once again, legislative proceedings on Capitol Hill are clear as mud.

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