In these hyper partisan times, it’s unusual that we can all agree upon whether science is a real thing, so the less obvious are a lost cause. But on the matter of Congressional pay, we are united. Eighty-nine percent of voters don’t think Congress should be paid during the GOP shutdown, according to a Public Policy Polling poll released today.
That 89% breaks down as such: Eighty-four percent of Democrats don’t think Congress should be paid, while Independents lead at 93%, and 91% of Republicans concur.
Democrats may be slightly behind Republicans because Democrats didn’t shutdown the government, and perhaps shouldn’t be punished for the actions of the Republican Party. But Independents lead with 93%, and they are also the same people who blamed Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown in the same poll, so this seems more like a case of if we have to do it, so should they.
Imagine if the poll had asked if Speaker John Boehner should have designated the House members’ gym as essential. It’s actions like keeping their precious gym open while they shutdown the country that disgust the American people.
Judd Legum at Think Progress reported Tuesday:
The House gym features a swimming pool, basketball courts, paddleball courts, a sauna, a steam room and flat screen TVs. While towel service is unavailable, taxpayers remain on the hook for cleaning and maintenance, which has been performed daily throughout the shutdown. There are also costs associated with the power required to heat the pools and keep the lights on.
No towel service? Our hearts bleed.
As Americans suffer because Republicans lost the 2012 election and insist upon making everyone pay for it, they feel more than entitled to live it up in their essential gym. As Repblicans smugly talk about ObamaCare glitches and whine about having to be on the ObamaCare exchanges instead of their socialized healthcare, regular Americans have no healthcare at all and some are dying to get on the exchange so they can get medical help.
Republicans sound just like they did during the 2012 primaries when the cheered the death of the uninsured. While they have taxpayer funded health insurance, they shut the government down because they don’t anyone else to have access to the market exchanges of ObamaCare. Talk about being out of touch.
These are the whines of the way too privileged and out of it, which means they can’t really represent the people anymore — if they ever did.
But in the end, even though this shutdown is the fault of one party, Americans want all of Congress to do as Senator Al Franken did, and donate their salary during the shutdown. It’s important that our representatives stay in touch on some level with how things are for average Americans, and they can’t do that if they are immune from the reckless actions of the Republican Party.
Spread it around, let everyone get a taste of it so that everyone becomes the poor single mother who can’t feed her child right now, the disabled veteran who can’t get care, or the small business that can’t get a loan at a crucial time.
As Republicans get high on their debt ceiling truther crack, soon even Wall Street will get a taste of it. Who knew that it would be Republicans who would punch Wall Street in the guts. But of course, it’s the Little People who will pay, who will lose money in their IRAs as the big Boys read the tea and wisely bet against America.
No Work, No Pay. If it’s good enough for the rest of us, it’s good enough for Congress. And by work, we don’t mean parading around silly offers to fund .0009% of the government that Republicans like just so they can point fingers at Democrats, blaming Democrats for the shutdown Republicans admit they caused over ObamaCare.
We don’t mean holding the 42rd expensive show vote to repeal ObamaCare. We mean actual work: Pass some actual legislation. Sit down for a budget conference. DO SOMETHING. And by the way, ObamaCare is not related to the federal budget and has no place in this stickup.
The American people deserve so much better than this shoddy excuse for a do-nothing Congress. If Republicans get their way, we won’t have to bother with these guys anymore, we’ll just let the corporations run the country for real without the middlemen. So there’s that.
Image: Larry Downing/Reuters via Al Jazeera America
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