H.R. 4720 - The Where the Hell Are Boehner, McConnell, and Steele Act

My friends...

As you know, I have a very low tolerance for abject stupidity.

While browsing today's news I came up the following article, "Dem Lawmaker Wants Congress to Give Itself a Five Percent Pay Cut Next Year," in The Hill.

Dem Lawmaker...???

Really...???

Yep! Giving credit where credit is due, the House Member in question is Ann Kirkpatrick, Democrat of Arizona.

In a nutshell, Kirkpatrick's bill - H.R. 4720 - calls for a 5% cut in base salary for Members of Congress which would go into effect starting with the Congress of 2011 (the earliest date constitutionally permissible for a change in congressional pay).

Congresswoman Kirkpatrick has 29 co-sponsors to her bill.

Care to guess how many are Republicans...???

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

Eight.

Yep. Eight out of twenty-nine.

These eight Republican co-sponsors are Ron Paul of Texas, Walter B. Jones, Jr. of North Carolina, Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, Cynthia M. Lummis of Wyoming, David P. Roe of Tennessee, Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, Robert J. Wittman of Virginia, and John L. Mica of Florida.

Notice... John Boehner's name isn't on the list of co-sponsors.

Nor is Eric Cantor's.

Nor is Thaddeus McCotter's.

Nor is Tom Price's.

In case these names aren't familiar to you...

Cantor is Minority Whip - effectively Majority Leader Boehner's deputy and the number two Republican in the House.

McCotter is Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee of the House of Representatives.

Tom Price? He's Chairman of the Republican Study Committee - the House Republican conservatives' caucus.

To say that I'm a bit... er... perturbed... by the lack of - at a bare minimum - smart public relations on the part of Republican House leaders would be an understatement.

What are these morons thinking...?!?! That's the thought that comes to mind!

If I can clearly see the disconnect inherent in a Democrat being the sponsor of H.R. 4720 as opposed to a Republican...

If I can read through the list of co-sponsors and count 21 Democrats and only eight Republicans...

(*GROWL*)

Then why haven't the movers and shakers within the GOP noticed the disconnect?

Hey Mitch McConnell... perhaps you folks in the Senate Republican minority might consider getting up off your duffs and write, submit, and support a Senate bill along the lines of H.R. 4720.

Hey Michael Steele... not for nothing, but if Bill Barker in Harriman, NY is aware of - and outraged by - the fact that elected Republicans in Washington are once again showing why the GOP is often referred to as "The Stupid Party," shouldn't you - as Chairman of the GOP - be at the very least as aware and outraged?

Mikey... get on the horn to Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, McCotter, and Price and read them the riot act...!!!

I don't know... is it me...??? Am I asking too much...???

I don't think so...

(*SIGH*)