Time for Sean Duffy to Meet the Real World

From the wausau daily herald:

Democrats are getting some amusing mileage out of Rep. Sean Duffy’s recent exchange with a Polk County constituent about his congressional pay.

In a videotape of a town hall meeting in Amery, Duffy, R-Ashland, is seen telling a construction worker who lost his job and now drives a bus that even he was having difficulty making ends meet. As a member of Congress, the Republican freshman is paid $174,000 a year.

“I struggle to meet my bills right now,” Duffy told the constituent after noting that he has six children and a mortgage, drives a used minivan and is still paying off his student loan. “At this point, I’m not living high off the hog.”

Duffy also pointed out that he resigned from his prosecutor’s job to run for Congress and spent six months without a salary.

Exsqueeze me?  If you can’t afford 6 kids, keep your weewee in your pants, and don’t buy a house if you can’t afford the mortgage payments (isn’t that one of the Rethuglican themes?).  In addition, don’t quit your day job if you can’t afford it, even if it’s to run for Congress.   How ironic that Seanie got his start on The Real World back in 1997, and he still has no clue about it.
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Susan Collins, Person of InFLUence

From The Nation:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year’s emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued […that…] pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

Now, as the World Health Organization says a deadly swine flu outbreak that apparently began in Mexico but has spread to the United States has the potential to develop into a pandemic, Obey’s attempt to secure the money seems eerily prescient.

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Supporting the troops? Nah, supporting Captain Underpants

(RTTNews) – President George W. Bush signed into law a $162 billion bipartisan plan to finance war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan Monday, praising Congress for their work and bringing the total provided by lawmakers for the wars to $850 billion.

…snip…

Citing specific congressmen, Bush thanked Congressmen John Boehner (R-OH), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Dave Obey (D-WI).

He also thanked five Senators whom the President said, “worked hard for the GI Bill expansion,” one of the hallmarks of the funding. Bush offered special thinks to Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), John Warner (R-VA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Burr (R-NC), and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain (R-AZ).

However, McCain had opposed the 21st century GI Bill of rights that was endorsed by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), instead offering his own version.

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Fussbudget

From The Examiner:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) – Since January, President Bush has been publicly condemning Congress for what he describes as wasteful spending on “earmarks,” money for projects back home that lawmakers insert into spending bills.

But presidents, including Bush, play the earmark game, too. Bush stuffs his budget with billions for pet projects very much like the ones he attacks when they originate on Capitol Hill, according to taxpayer groups and members of Congress.

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Are We Having Funds Yet?

From the Los Angeles Times:

Setting up another confrontation with congressional Democrats over the war in Iraq, President Bush on Monday sent Congress a $45.9-billion emergency funding request for expenses related to U.S. military campaigns around the world.

The request, which comes on top of $147.5 billion sought by the administration earlier this year, pushes the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to more than $600 billion.

It also appears certain to further inflame tensions between the president and his Democratic critics on Capitol Hill, who are locked in a rancorous debate over federal spending bills as well as the war.

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