Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers made a half-hearted attempt at sharing the pain of furloughed federal employees. Yesterday on her Facebook page (how appropriate that the link ends with "theater") she posted this letter.
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| Cliff Owen - AP Photo |
The Senate passed a bill that gave the Republican House the lower spending it wanted, but McMorris Rodgers and her fellow extremists are not satisfied with that. They will put people out of work and wreck the economy just to stop the Affordable Care Act, which makes their "creating jobs" and "growing the economy" talking points sound even more hollow than before.
It's what she is good at. Empty talk.
3 comments:
I have mixed feelings about the no pay meme, particularly as explained as feeling "the pain" of federal workers.
Federal workers are pretty well protected, and normally can look forward to back pay even if furloughed. None of these Democrats or Republicans take pay cuts when McDonalds workers strike.
I suppose sharing pain is easier when furloughed workers are partying at fancy wine bars rather than walking picket lines. I suppose it was empty hogwash when Obama said he'd put on his "soft shoes" and march with strikers. It's funny how federal workers and congresspeople look out for each other and demand our sympathy, but have shown little sympathy for the rest of America.
No conscience-struck congresspeople gave up salary after they failed the country by deregulating the banks, causing massive unemployment. Bill Clinton has made hundreds of millions from Wall Street and abroad since repealing Glass Steagall and signing WTO. Chris Dodd was rewarded with a lucrative Hollywood sinecure after derailing reform with the Dodd-Frank bill.
It's not like Democrats and Republicans are giving up their full compensation. For most, their congressional (judicial, presidential) salaries are peanuts compared to other sources of income, including post term corporate kickbacks. Those giving up their entire salaries are simply stating how rich they are, that they are plutocrats not Americans. I mean seriously--if an American served in congress s/he would need keep back at least a living wage.
But, McMoRo is less insufferable than, say, Pelosi.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/283341-pelosi-congressional-pay-cut-undermines-dignity-of-the-job-
Because, that rich plutocrat deserves "dignity"--even when Americans haven't had a raise in thirty years, face massive unemployment, job insecurity, rotten pensions etc etc.
Compare:
--Congressmen cut their salaries.
--Obama publically invites banksters into the Oval Office so then can take advantage of the crisis.
Which is the more troubling symbolism?
Rather than frogmarching Blankfein into prison, there's Obama proudly marching The Smirker across the White House lawn as if he owned the place.
Then again, Goldman Sachs does own the White House, and Capital Hill. And the NSA and FBI, ask Occupy.
It's hard to see Obama's subservience to the banksters as anything other than flipping the bird at American workers who remember 2008.
Neither party is protecting Americans from these evil men.
We had TARP. Welcome to WARP, where Blankfein lectures Americans about acting responsibly.
Compare:
Boehner is willing to defy the Hastert Rule. But Obama is not willing to defy Blankfein.
More grandstanding hogwash:
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash): “For as long as this unnecessary shutdown occurs, hundreds of thousands of public servants will be working without pay," she said in a statement Tuesday. "When sequestration began earlier this year, I returned 8.2% of my salary back to the Treasury, and for the duration of this shutdown, I will return the remainder of my personal salary as well." Washington Post
DelBene is worth $23.4 million dollars, and she's not even the richest person, or richest Democrat, in Congress.
Small potatoes, Congresswoman DelBene.
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