There was more to the atrocious "stimulus" package than hundreds of
$billions of frivolous pork barrel spending that will leave
generations of Americans in debt. It also advanced the liberal goals
of putting the healthcare industry under direct federal control, and
secretively repealing welfare reform so as to breed future generations
of state-dependent Democrat voters. Better still for an administration
that crawled out of the sewers of Chicago politics, it gives the White
House tremendous leverage to squash corruption investigations. A
furtive provision in the bill
creates something called the Recovery Accountability and
Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it's known by the few insiders
who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs,
known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate
allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of
interference by political appointees or the White House.
In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given
the RAT Board the authority to ask "that an inspector general conduct
or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation." If the
inspector general doesn't want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board,
he'll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as
well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly
independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector
general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through
bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go
forward.
When Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, a longtime champion of
inspectors general, read the words "conduct or refrain from
conducting," alarm bells went off. The language means that the board —
whose chairman will be appointed by the president — can reach deep
inside a federal agency and tell an inspector general to lay off some
particularly sensitive subject. Or, conversely, it can tell the
inspector general to go after a tempting political target.
Grassley was a member of the House-Senate conference committee. Yet he
only learned of the RAT provision buried deep in the 1,073 pages of
wasteful spending when he was tipped off by a worried inspector
general. According to a Democrat Senator, RAT was "something the Obama
administration wanted included in this bill."
When he learned about RAT, Grassley wanted to voice his objections
before the Senate. But there was no time; they had to hurry up and
vote so that Nazi Pelousy could jet off to Europe — and so that no one
would have time to read the bill.
This is what the Moonbat Messiah calls "transparency."
There was more to the atrocious "stimulus" package than hundreds of
$billions of frivolous pork barrel spending that will leave
generations of Americans in debt. It also advanced the liberal goals
of putting the healthcare industry under direct federal control, and
secretively repealing welfare reform so as to breed future generations
of state-dependent Democrat voters. Better still for an administration
that crawled out of the sewers of Chicago politics, it gives the White
House tremendous leverage to squash corruption investigations. A
furtive provision in the bill
creates something called the Recovery Accountability and
Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it's known by the few insiders
who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs,
known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate
allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of
interference by political appointees or the White House.
In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given
the RAT Board the authority to ask "that an inspector general conduct
or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation." If the
inspector general doesn't want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board,
he'll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as
well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly
independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector
general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through
bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go
forward.
When Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, a longtime champion of
inspectors general, read the words "conduct or refrain from
conducting," alarm bells went off. The language means that the board —
whose chairman will be appointed by the president — can reach deep
inside a federal agency and tell an inspector general to lay off some
particularly sensitive subject. Or, conversely, it can tell the
inspector general to go after a tempting political target.
Grassley was a member of the House-Senate conference committee. Yet he
only learned of the RAT provision buried deep in the 1,073 pages of
wasteful spending when he was tipped off by a worried inspector
general. According to a Democrat Senator, RAT was "something the Obama
administration wanted included in this bill."
When he learned about RAT, Grassley wanted to voice his objections
before the Senate. But there was no time; they had to hurry up and
vote so that Nazi Pelousy could jet off to Europe — and so that no one
would have time to read the bill.
This is what the Moonbat Messiah calls "transparency."
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
