$800 Billion Plane Ride

[Marc Thiessen]

From a Senate staffer:
“I just heard that the reason we’re trying to wrap up this bill by tomorrow is that there is a CODEL to Germany [for the annual Munich Security Conference]. Wheels up sometime around 6 p.m. out of Andrews. We’re going to let this thing go without making them take tough votes because a group of Senators wants to take a ride on the taxpayer overseas. We should call it the $800 billion plane ride. We should be debating this thing all week and make Reid shut us down. The more this hangs out there, the worse it smells to the American people. We are a sad excuse for a minority.”
The Munich Security Conference is the Davos of the defense and national security world. It takes place Feb. 6-8.

We Plan To Live Up To Our Ethical Standards Very, Very Soon [Byron York]

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A number of bloggers are pointing out this ethics pledge on Barack Obama's campaign website:
Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Obama has now signed two bills into law — the Lily Ledbetter Act and SCHIP — and in neither case did he wait five days before signing. The website PolitiFact asked the White House about the broken pledge and got this response from an Obama spokesman:

During the campaign, the President committed to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. The President remains committed to bringing more transparency to government, and in this spirit the White House has posted legislation expected to come to the President's desk online for comment.

We will be implementing this policy in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar. In the meantime, we will continue to post legislation on our website for comment as it moves through congress over the next few weeks."
02/05 07:47 AM