COMMENTARY | Watching the late night speeches from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on C-SPAN is always an amusing way to pass time. Tuesday night was no exception.
The general speeches by Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Del. Donna Christensen, D-U.S. Virgin Islands, were enough to make me want to throw something at the television. But all their liberal musings failed in comparison to the vitriol of Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
Lee appeared to be outraged at the condition of the economy, high deficits and unsustainable federal spending. She was appalled at the inability of Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
"Paying our bills and raising the debt limit should be an easy thing," she said before listing off the main reasons for our debt crisis: two wars, unfunded programs and giant tax cuts. But, it was her next statement that truly flabbergasted me.
"We should be working to pass a jobs bill," she said. "We should really be trying to find a way to create jobs -- and stop the games Republicans are playing that threaten our national security."
Really?
Lee quickly declared Republicans to be "morally wrong and fiscally unsound" in their attempts to reform Social Security and Medicare. Just like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Lee said, "All these programs are on the chopping block."
The Democrats have been trying to sell that lie for months, but I think most Americans see it for what it is: political posturing.
Lee is not one of the most prolific legislators. She has sponsored 30 bills in 112th Congress -- none of which has become law and none of which proposes any deficit-cutting measure. In fact, most were meaningless Sense of the House motions and commemorative stamp proposals. Of the 195 bills she has co-sponsored, only one has become law. With few exceptions, none of those bills involved any substantial debt reduction proposal either.
Lee is precisely what is wrong with Washington today. She rises to the floor -- after nearly every other member of the House has gone home -- to engage in a colloquy with fellow Congressional Black Caucus members. Together, they waste government money and valuable time talking about funding social programs for groups they believe to be in need.
Congress needs fewer of the Barbara Lee types and more of those who are willing to not only speak about changing the way Washington does business -- but those who are willing to rise ideas and proposals to achieve it.
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