Senate Democrat Calls Spending Bill Process Un-Democratic and Offensive

In this case its Menendez of New Jersey whose staff found out that a move to loosen up Cuba restrictions had been tucked into the bill without discussion. This of course has been a chief complaint about the original stimulus bill by the GOP, Legislators do not know what they are voting on. the fact that the Senator found out only by looking at the Congressional website and not through discussion and debate is a sign of a legislative process gone askew. Harry Reid simply wants things passed without discussion, its just easier that way.
From WaPo:

Democrats rejected four GOP amendments to the omnibus spending bill last night, and they will face more today. The additional amendments are the price that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pay Thursday night after he sought to bring an end to debate on the bill and came up one vote short. Several Republicans whose support Reid had anticipated did not deliver, but the most costly defection was that of Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), a member of the Democratic leadership, in protest of a little-noticed Cuba provision that would ease U.S. rules on travel and imports to the communist-led island.

The Menendez rebellion was a jolt of political reality for Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, signaling that the solidarity of the stimulus debate is fading as Democratic lawmakers are starting to read the fine print of the bills they will wrestle with in the coming weeks and months, and not always liking what they see.

Reid had been focused on fending off a bloc of conservative Republicans who were seeking to eliminate more than 8,500 pet projects in the bill, many of them inserted by GOP lawmakers. Democratic leaders were hearing some internal grumblings, but those concerns focused largely on the bill's hefty overall price tag.

Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.

"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue

I am glad Democrats are now taking the time to actually look at the bills they are voting on and Menendez is not alone in opposition, Feingold has opposed the earmark bill and it appears opposition to various parts of the budget is forming from Senate Democrats un-happy to see changes that affect their constituents. On a side note Obama is now leaning towards means testing Medicare D.

Obama's proposal for Medicare means testing has received surprisingly little attention so far, beyond plaudits from Republicans who have supported the idea for years. The debate over an income scale was especially heated when Congress created the Medicare drug benefit, known as Part D, during President George W. Bush's first term. As a senator, Obama voted against a Medicare means-testing proposal in March 2007.

Means testing is a hot button issue and one that will send the aarp through the roof.