As part of the economic stimulus package passed in February, Congress gave the Commerce Department up to $7.2 billion to... View Article
Continue readingObama’s Stimulus Lobbying Rules: The Movie
With all of the discussion about President Obama’s new rules on stimulus lobbying, I have put together a short video... View Article
Continue readingAccountability for Government Spending
A week ago, I blogged about the launch of the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery (CAR). The coalition (of which... View Article
Continue readingRasmussen: Americans Believe Congress in the Dark Over Stimulus Contents
On Tuesday, Rasmussen Reports released a telephone survey that shows the Americans have strong doubts about whether congressional lawmakers understand... View Article
Continue readingGenealogy of the Stimulus Bill
The current economic crisis does seem to present a combination of circumstances (the housing crisis, a credit crisis, declining international trade, rising unemployment), some of which are causes, some of which are symptoms, none of which--of course--are particularly pleasant for those going through them. So how does Congress, legislatively, address new circumstances? Do members and their staffs (and the lobbyists whispering in their ears) craft bills to solve the problems at hand? Or do they go through their archives and relabel old bills as solutions to new problems?
Using the indispensable Govtrack.us, I'm going to look for antecedents ...
Continue readingWe Need Online Review of Stimulus Legislation
The Sunlight Foundation has long advocated that all legislation be posted online for at least 72 hours before final consideration.... View Article
Continue readingGreasing the stimulus with pork?
Glenn Reynolds flags the latest twist on earmarks -- we'll have them, but call them something else:
At some point, [House Majority Whip James] Clyburn [(D-S.C.)] noted, there will be a list of projects funded by the package, and Members want to have input.The list is going to come from somewhere, he said.
House Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) questioned whether the bill can truly be considered free of earmarks when it will be loaded up with complicated formulas directing spending.
Calling it an earmark-free thing and then saying there are established formulas doesn't sound very ...
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StimulusWatch.org
StimulusWatch.org is set to launch today as a way to help the Obama administration keep its pledge and to hold... View Article
Continue readingStimulus Bill Amendments
The House Rules Committee approved amendments for consideration during the floor debate on the stimulus bill (H.R. 1). There are... View Article
Continue readingStimulus Bill Transparency
Sunlight’s Bill Allison was on Brian Lehrer Live discussing efforts to put the proposed stimulus bill online and in a... View Article
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