Quote:
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...Republicans have caught the Democrats in a midnight “stimulus” power play that seeks to cut Republican conferees out of the House-Senate negotiations to resolve a final version of the Obama “stimulus” package. Staff members from the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met last night to put together the “stimulus” conference report. ...
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What a bogus charge.
First draft of House/Senate conference committee bills to work out the differences in language between the two bills is nearly always done by the staffs of the majority, often working late into the night..and then presented to the full conference committee for review and discussion.
The purpose of the first draft is NOT to provide new proposals but to address the differences in the House and Senate versions as passed by their respective majorities.
Since nearly all Republicans voted against the bills in the House and Senate, by the very nature of their vote, they had little, if any, input into the first draft of a conference bill.