It was reported on the news this morning how Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (D) of Arizona was proposing a long-overdue bill to the House. She acknowledged that with the very difficult economic times our nation is currently going through that it would definitely be in order for congress to do their share, for once, by taking a pay cut too. With that being her premise she is introducing a bill to cut congress' pay by 5%.Now 5% is not much, but it is a least a good start. With congressional approval ratings now at 14% and their disapproval amongst the American populace being at 80%, it definitely would not hurt things for them to at least go through the motions of showing some solidarity with we the people during this tough fiscal time period.
Odds of this passing are realistically not very good, which further will bode ill for congress. To Congresswoman Kirkpatrick's credit, she has stated that regardless of the fate of her bill, she will voluntarily take the 5% pay cut anyway. She further has stated that despite several attempts to enact a congressional pay cut in the past, the last time this was actually done successfully was way back in 1933.She claims that she does have a fair amount of bi-partisan backing for her bill so far. Now whether our fiscally irresponsible Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will actually schedule this bill for a vote remains to be seen. In times of trillion dollar deficits and $74 trillion dollar national debt, this is little more than window-dressing for sure. But at least one Democratic Congresswoman cares enough to make the attempt. Kudos to you, Congresswoman Kirkpatrick, for this likely futile endeavor!
5 comments:
Sure, this measure will make people feel good - stick it to those Congress members! But it is such an empty gesture. If she proposed a cut in military waste, or shutting down one of the hundreds of foreign bases we have to borrow money in order to maintain, then she might have something.
Sure cut their pay, but it won't really do anything. And you know Boehner won't go for it, he has too many tanning sessions to pay for!
Oh, I agree that it is essentially meaningless, but at least one Democrat out there is putting her own personal money where her mouth is. That is a HELL of a lot more than what Pelosi has EVER done.
You didn't like my Boehner joke? C'mon. He does have a permanent bronze. That can't be natural.
Sure it is, Splash! That is just the bronze glow of being on the right side of a legislative debate! :)
No, I'd say those tanning bulbs have fried his brain. It would go a long way toward his explaining his behavior over the last few years!
Post a Comment