MEANINGLESS RESOLUTIONS FOR ME, NOT FOR THEE…. Congress routinely takes up symbolic resolutions that aren’t especially significant. It’s generally not worth raising a fuss over.
But this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided to not only complain about today’s resolutions, but to argue that they’re evidence of Democratic negligence.
“These are your hard-earned tax dollars at work: with millions of Americans looking for jobs and the nation’s unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, the U.S. House of Representatives today will take up a grand total of four non-controversial ‘suspension’ bills. Four,” Boehner’s statement read. He added, “It’s unacceptable for Congress to take it easy at a time when out-of-work families struggling to make ends meet are asking ‘where are the jobs?’”
You tell ’em, John. And while you’re telling ’em, you may want to let your caucus know about your concerns.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) today introduced — along with 75 other Republicans — a resolution to officially commemorate the 9/12 taxpayer march on Washington. Other sponsors of H.R. 870 include Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa.), and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the party’s whip.
The odds of passage — which would demand that Democrats endorse bill language about “skyrocketing deficits, taxpayer-funded bailouts, pork-barrel projects, burdensome taxes, unaccountable policy czars, command-and-control energy policy, and a government takeover of health care” — seem slim.
The right’s resolution is intended to express “gratitude and appreciation to the individuals and families who participated in the Taxpayer March on Washington on September 12, 2009.” It includes a head count “as high as 1,700,000 marchers,” which by most measures is a ridiculous exaggeration.
So, these are your hard-earned tax dollars at work. With the economy struggling, more than six dozen House Republicans want to spend time on a resolution honoring 70,000 right-wing activists who showed up for some lobbyist-sponsored, Fox News-organized protest.
I can only assume that Boehner considers this “unacceptable.”
