Putting imaginary brakes on imaginary legislation

Monday, December 29, 2008

Ok, someone answer me this: How can you put the "brakes" on legislation that does not yet exist?

McConnell Puts the Brakes on Stimulus Plan
By Paul Kane
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced skepticism today about the emerging economic stimulus plan, applying a brake to Democratic plans to quickly pass up to $850 billion in spending and tax cuts soon after President-elect Barack Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration.

I find it's always prudent, helpful, and constructive to be skeptical of something one has not even seen yet -- something one will not even see until a new president is in office.

How is the Republican Senate minority leader putting the brakes on a bill that has yet to even be drafted useful to this country? Isn't that a little like trying to eat an apple that has yet to grow on the tree? Or more correctly, already accusing that apple of being riddled with worms?

McConnell specifically called for a weeklong cooling off period between when the bill is drafted and when it is voted on, allowing time to dissect it for signs of "fraud and waste."

Right, because when the House had time to look over the financial bailout they added useful oversight and didn't jam pack it with pet projects. Wait, what? That's right, thanks to an addition from the White House, when the US government directly infuses cash into a firm (as opposed to buying specific assets/finaical products), there are no restrictions on spending that cash for, say, excessive executive pay. The bill also ended up including tax breaks for a fun filled menu of recipients, including, perhaps most strangely, the manufacturers of children's wooden arrows.

Right, so back to the forthcoming Bailout Package Stimulus Plan of 2009. Of course there should be oversight, of course we want to be sure that there are "..some undetermined safeguards to assure the money is being spent wisely.". But to bluster about it now? That is blatant political posturing, and it sets an adversarial tone that leads to an ineffective bill.