''Capitol Hill is the one place that won't be shedding jobs this year. Our legislators are immune to this kind of thing on planet Washington. The recession/depression is for the little people they represent on earth. Also, each of their aids will be getting generous raises called cost-of-living adjustments.'' Congress has been so busy trying to ram a bill masquerading as health-care reform down our throats that it hasn't had time to take care of its primary responsibility, the federal budget.
The new fiscal year began on Oct. 1 and, to date, the nation's lawmakers have passed only one of the 12 appropriations bills that make up the federal budget.
With so many pressing problems facing the nation, what was the one spending bill to be finished on time? Defense, Homeland Security
, Health and Human Services perhaps? No! Congress was much too busy spending money on itself to get to any of these things. Yes, the first bill to be completed was the $4.7 billion Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.
To add to the outrage, our illustrious lawmakers increased their budget by 6 to 8 percent. Do these people read the papers? Did they learn nothing during the August recess? Do they even answer their phones?
Go "green" and let the world know what really needs recycling in 2010 with the magnetic bumper sticker: "Recycle Congress"
The nation's businesses
have been laying off workers and shedding staff at a record rate in order to stay afloat. Unemployment is hovering around 10 percent, and the very people who are supposed to be looking out for us are spending like there is no tomorrow.
Supporters of the measure had the audacity to argue that this monstrosity was frugal. Jake Thompson, a spokesman for Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who chairs the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, called the bill "fiscally responsible."
What planet is this man on?
It's called Washington, and it is in a little galaxy of its own. In this galaxy you don't need the sun. The lawmakers generate enough heat (called hot air) to warm the place. Yes, they speak our language, but in the rarified air inside the beltway, common everyday words have different meanings. Mr. Thompson can describe the bill as fiscally responsible because last year, the legislators increased their budget by a whopping 10.9 percent. In Washington, a "cut" is when you don't get the kind of increase you wanted if money were no object, which is always the case here.
Yes, this bill is outrageous but, months ago, the president of the United States, the man who squints into the teleprompter and tells us how he feels our pain, gave them permission to spend $300,000,000 more in the budget he presented to Capitol Hill.