Do you find yourself talking to the politicians appearing on your TV screens?
Do the Sunday morning political television shows really upset you?
Think Mitch McConnell and Debbie Wasserman Schultz would make a great couple?
Do both Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly really annoy you?
Do you now only read the sports pages?
Maybe a 28-day stay in a political rehab would do you some good? However, if you want to try a much more simple but very effective treatment for your apparent total disrespect for practically all politicians, I have the perfect solution.
Just call the following number: 202-225-3906 and leave a message! You don’t even have to tell them your name. But it feels good if you do.
No, it’s not donating to your favorite candidate.
No, it’s not some politician you can really tell off. It’s the listed telephone number of Rep. Darrel Issa’s office (R-49th Calif.) in Washington D.C. You are calling to personally thank him and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) for sponsoring a bill that passed two weeks ago.
This bill makes sure that our illustrious congressmen and senators will not be getting their expected “cost-of-living “ raises this year.
A cost of living raise for these guys? What chutzpah? Can you think of a better way to show them how we feel about their job performance?
Let me fill you in on the details.
In December, President Obama, again circumvented his constitutional authority. By executive order, he mandated a .5 percent cost of living pay hike for all our overworked and underpaid federal employees.
But, according to my interpretation of the Constitution, only the House of Representatives can initiate expenditure bills. But, I’ll leave that to someone other than a Long Island dentist.
Led by Issa and Fitzpatrick, the House voted to overturn Obama’s order, and not allow that cost of living increase. Except of course, they exempted our brave military. They deserve it. They should get it. Way to go, Congress!
And to make it even more meaningful, it was bipartisan. The vote was 261-154. I feel myself getting closer and closer to watching “Meet The Press” again.
Amazingly, 43 Democrats actually voted for the freeze. But, 10 Republicans voted against it. What were they thinking? As a major part of your new political anger-management program, I suggest you also call them.
Some of you may really believe that there is no need to pay for this or any other proposal. Just kick the can down the road and, let someone else pay for it. Who do you have in mind? Our children and grandchildren of course.
These are the relevant facts:
1- There is a total of 174,000 federal employees including our own Congressmen and Senators. By the way, don’t feel sorry for them. The average white-collar, federal employee now makes over $100,000 per year!.Plus benefits.
2- This salary increase would have cost my granddaughter $11 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
3- I forgot to add, that they still get increases if they are promoted and they still get a pay raise with each new pay-grade.
4- And finally, if conditions were so bad for these poor federal workers, how come voluntarily leaving the government is at an all-time low?
So get busy all you frustrated taxpayers and make that call. I promise you will feel better.
Unfortunately, this is only a temporary cure. Next week you will probably be back yelling at Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner on “Sixty Minutes” when they discuss some new, “exciting”, necessary, “free”, spending proposals.
Dr. Stephen Morris
North Hills
