New York Times  November 22, 2003 CONGRESSIONAL MEMO 11th-Hour Bills Irk Lawmakers Left in the Dark By DAVID FIRESTONE WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 — For weeks, hundreds of impatient Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have steamed as Congressional leaders confined them to the anteroom while writing gigantic bills reshaping Medicare and energy policy. On Friday, many of those shut out of the inner sanctum got a morsel of revenge when 40 members of the Senate succeeded in blocking the energy bill, a long-sought prize of Republican leaders and the Bush administration. By introducing the two big bills at the last minute and thus limiting debate just before the winter adjournment, those leaders had hoped to push the measures through a weary Congress, but many lawmakers suggested on Friday that the tactic might be backfiring. ... Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/22/politics/22MEMO.html?                           Mr. McCain said that the more closely members examined the bill, the more unsavory it became. "I never believed that it was accidental that we didn't receive this bill until a very short time ago, 1,200 pages," he said. "Because it will not bear scrutiny."