Seven House members, however, say they’re keeping their salary– Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida; Rep. Danny Davis, D-Illinois; Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indiana; Rep. William ‘Lacy’ Clay, Jr., D-Missouri; Rep. Howard Coble, R-North Carolina; Rep. Susan Brooks, R-North Carolina; Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-North Carolina.
“I need my paycheck. That’s the bottom line,” Ellmers told North Carolina station WTVD in a phone interview. “I understand that maybe there are members who are deferring their paychecks and that’s admirable,” said Ellmers. “I’m not in that position.”
ALL members should be deferring pay, and if not, a “no comment” is better than what came out of Ellmers’ mouth.
OF COURSE they didn't lose a paycheck. All the while arguing over affordable healthcare when they themselves have the best healthcare available to Americans. Politics and politicians are pretty low in my book… a necessary evil, I suppose, but everything about them screams "gamesmanship".
I agree. I understand that not all of our representatives are millionaires and that some actually have this as their sole income. But, on the flip side, how much do they think a park ranger makes? Not all that much and they are definitely not millionaires – not one of them – and I'm highly doubtful they are married to one, either. Yet, they are being forced to not get a check.
"No Comment" would have been better. But, even better yet, fix the problem. If they can't come to a resolution and we end up in a furlough position, their pay should be withheld, as well. This is truly their responsibility to come up with a budget plan.
Right… no pay until you negotiate and end to this shutdown.
The Republicans have offered several bills to fund individual parts of the government, including the National Parks. But the Democrats continue to stall the bills, or refuse to let them out of committees. I believe the Democrats want to make this as painful as possible, thinking they can blame it on the Republicans. This will most likely backfire on them in the next election cycle.
Don't forget contractors and suppliers for the government and government contractors.
Yesterday I watched a congressman from Texas berate a female park employee for closing a national park site, the World War II Memorial, because of the government shutdown, the shutdown he voted for. He told her she should be "ashamed" of herself for closing the park. She was a park ranger, mind you, not the head of the Park Service. Maybe the fact the that there was a film crew there inspired the congressman to push her around.
I agree politicians should be the first to get their pay cut. Unfortunately most are so rich it won't negatively affect them. Did you catch Michelle Bachmann photo-oping the heck out of the WWII memorial? Paraphrasing: "We hate that the Democrats are using our Vets as political pawns" (said while having her arms wrapped around a disabled Vet and smiling into the camera)… I wanted to throw up.
She needs some PR help. Obviously she's one of the very few people in congress that understand what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. Too bad they don't have more empathy for others that do.
Oh, Larry. How I have missed your comments. Let me guess – you're a Democrat, right? 😉