In Transition

The way the two top Republican leaders in Congress are talking about the stimulus bill, maybe President-elect Barack Obama shouldn’t count on it being ready for his signature on inauguration day.

Democrats have been hoping to speed a major stimulus bill — anywhere from $675 billion to $775 billion — through Congress in time for Obama’s swearing-in on Jan. 20.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation” yesterday, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod declined to predict whether that goal could be achieved, but added, “We hope so. That would be great.”

But in statements issued today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio both called for the stimulus bill to go through the regular hearings process in congressional committees — and said the public should have at least a week to review the bill online before any floor votes take place. It would be a challenge, to say the least, for the Democratic majority could do either one of those things and have the bill ready by Jan. 20.

As a practical matter, McConnell has more leverage than Boehner to hold up the bill if those conditions aren’t met, since Senate Republicans have the filibuster and House Republicans don’t. But it’s important to note that they both seem to be on the same page.

“Without proper oversight and safeguards, a trillion-dollar spending bill invites fraud and waste on a massive scale,” McConnell said in his statement. “We must take great care to ensure that fraud and other misuse of taxpayers’ funds don’t result from such a large spending bill.”

So — maybe Jan. 21?

— David Nather