U.S. News and World Report: "Congressional Offices Don't Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do"

[Towlie]

Is this true?

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/2/12/congressional-offices-dont-have-the-stimulus-bill-lobbyists-do.html

Congressional Offices Don't Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do
February 12, 2009 04:14 PM ET

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

We're receiving E-mails from Capitol Hill staffers expressing frustration that they can't get a copy of the stimulus bill agreed to last night at a price of $789 billion. What's more, staffers are complaining about who does have a copy: K Street lobbyists. E-mails one key Democratic staffer: "K Street has the bill, or chunks of it, already, and the congressional offices don't. So, the Hill is getting calls from the press (because it's leaking out) asking us to confirm or talk about what we know—but we can't do that because we haven't seen the bill. Anyway, peeps up here are sort of a combo of confused and like, 'Is this really happening?'" Reporters pressing for details, meanwhile, are getting different numbers from different offices, especially when seeking the details of specific programs.

Worse, there seem to be several different versions of what was agreed upon, with some officials circulating older versions of the package that seems to still be developing. Leadership aides said that it will work out later today and promised that lawmakers will get time to review the bill before Friday's vote.

[cosmik debris]

1. NPR news says that it is on the internet

Where ANYBODY can read it.

[Bok_Tukalo]

2. I think it can be found here

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/13/ARRA-for-comment/

[Triana]

3. Sounds like a rightwingnut lame$tream media smear job to me.

NO WAY do I believe these staffers are so damned ignorant. This is a smear job set up to make the Obama admin look bad. WHO OWNS US News and World Report? (ie: what corprat entity).

[peacetalksforall]

4. But that isn't the point - unless Congress was ordered to read it on the net and they

didn't get the message that they had to go to the net and download it themselves.

I think it's a disgrace and someone should investigate the arrangement with the printing office. If this is a true story.