Monday, January 5, 2009

"The Cantor Idea": Stimulus bill goes online

Leave it to young, Tweeting Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor to be the Republican who initiates a tech savvy idea in a bi-partisan meeting.

ABC reports on President-elect Obama's meeting with congressional leadership today (Ea):

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Vir., suggested said (sic) the bill should be put on the Internet a week before Congress votes on it.

"Mr. Obama smiled and said something along the lines of, "maybe if I was better at faking it , I'd say, 'Great idea -- we'll take you up on that.' But we've actually talked about this idea."

Obama turned it over to incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel who essentially said they would do the Republicans one better. They're planning a Google-like search function to show every program funded by the stimulus package, whether it comes in under or over-budget, whether it is meeting its intended purpose, and how many jobs it is creating.

"Tell you what," Obama said, "we'll still call it the Cantor idea."