(Guest post by Greg Forster)
In case you haven’t heard, it’s been discovered that the Democrats snuck a provision into the “stimulus” “omnibus”* bill that assassinates the D.C. voucher program.
Dan Lips and Robert Enlow have the story on NRO today; the link on the front page is broken as of this writing, but you can get the story here.
I’m not sure what’s most disgusting – that the Dems are putting union politics ahead of children’s lives, that they’re doing it in this cowardly way, or that the president broke his promise to make the text of the bill available to legislators and the public with plenty of time to review the contents and justified his decision by saying that we had to pass the bill immediately to avert a catastrophe.
What did the president know, and when did he know it? Seems like there’s no answer to that question that makes him look good.
*UPDATE: Thanks to the commenters for correcting my mistake. How could I possibly mix up the “stimulus” bill with the “omnibus” bill? I mean, other than the fact that they’re both nothing but special interest porkapaloozas, they’re so completely different! Even so, I’m leaving in my comment about the president having broken his word on making the text of the stimulus bill available, because he did break his word and it was wrong. And the question of what the president knew about the voucher assassination attempt and when he knew it still seems 1) relevant and 2) not to admit of answers that make him look good.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
Greg,
Is the provision to kill the DC program in the stimulus bill (that already passed) or the omnibus spending bill (still in early stages of debate, so there is time to fight it)?
My understanding and reading of the Lips and Enlow piece is that it is the latter, but the stimulus bill precludes any of the new funding to be used for school choice.
“snuck a provision”
No parsing using English rules will make that make any sense.
They shoveled that an myriad other such features in by the shitbucket load. Wide open to all who were willing to look.
They did make sure that nobody who might do anything about it got to look, but that is not “sneak”, that is Three Card Monte.
It is in the proposed omnibus bill, not the stimulus package. I believe it has only passed in the House.
Technically it is like a sunset clause to the program–money will not be appropriated to the voucher program unless the program is reauthorized. Yes, I know that is just another way of saying “assassination.” But it isn’t law yet.
Keep in mind that even if the “assassination” attempt does not become part of the law, the ability to kill it by not appropriating funds is ever-present.
Whoops, thanks for catching that, guys. Post updated.