It’s the ol’ bait and switch.  You see one thing, and end up buying something else because the seller pulled a switcheroo.  From the website of Congressman John Boehner (R-Ohio):

Senate Democratic leaders quietly made more than 70 substantive changes to the text of a health care bill after the legislation was voted on and passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee.  The changes were made without a vote and without the knowledge of the committee’s minority members.  Boehner condemned the practice of adding such “phantom amendments” to bills, and announced that Republicans will introduce a resolution that would change House rules to require committees to post the actual text of adopted bills and amendments online within 24 hours to prevent similar acts of deception.

“The American people are fed up with the way in which Congress does business,” Boehner said.  So true!  That’s the whole point of this website.  “Whether it’s passing massive spending bills no one in America has read, or making secret changes to bills after they’ve already been passed by committees, ‘business as usual’ in Congress needs to end,” Boehner continued.  “The American people deserve a Congress that is transparent and accountable to the people it serves.  The practice of secretly adding ‘phantom amendments’ to major bills after they pass committee is outrageous, and it should be banned.  Americans should be allowed to read the text of all bills online within 24 hours after they are approved by congressional committees.”

It seems the Democrats are getting sloppy as they enjoy their temporary majority, which is sure to end in the 2010 mid-term elections.  Congressional bills are already too long, complex and full of pork and favors to special interests.  Now the Democrats are undermining the legislative process even more by adding provisions to bills after the vote.

Boehner and this website supports an effort by Reps. Greg Walden (R-OR) and John Culberson (R-TX) to change House rules to require all bills to be posted online for a minimum of 72 hours before they are brought to a vote on the House floor.  No more bait & switch in Congress!  More information is available at Read the Bill!

Thanks to the Ranter for this tip.

You’d think in a time of two wars and record deficits that our U.S. Congress would clamp down on wasteful spending.  Think again.  Apparently the only thing our Congress can do consistently is waste our money.

CNN reveals that funds directed to help U.S. troops on the battlefield are instead being spent on senators’ pet projects back home.  In the most recent defense spending bill, both Republican and Democratic senators secured 59 earmarks that divert a total of $172 million from our troops.

For example, Utah’s Republican Senator Robert Bennett secured a $5 million earmark for a local Utah company to produce a memento video scrapbook for troops returning from battle.  The $5 million comes from the fund that’s supposed to pay for the troops’ basic needs such as food, fuel and ammunition.

“Every dollar that we are forced to spend on things which we do not need requires us to take money from things which we do need,” said a Pentagon spokesman.  “And the people who lose in that tradeoff are our troops and the taxpayers.”

When CNN asked Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe whether the Pentagon specifically requested her $20 million earmark for a local Maine company to repair Humvees, she replied, “I don’t know.  But it’s not only the Pentagon’s decision.  There are several branches of government.”

That’s right, there’s a lot of pigs to feed in Washington.