I got an e-mail from my Congresscritter Buck McKeon this afternoon that was quite unsurprising:
Last week the Obama Administration announced that they would be halting White House visitor tours as a result of sequestration. In these historically difficult fiscal times, I believe that everyone is cognizant of the need to find savings in every area of government spending and that tough, unpopular choices have to be made. However, putting the taxpayers in “time out” as a consequence for his inability to lead in this fiscal crisis is an unfortunate move, motivated by divisive partisanship, not any real desire to save taxpayer dollars.
Taxpayers are now prohibited from visiting the White House when they travel to their nation's capital this spring, but our office is committed to giving you the best possible experience on your vacation. We can set you up with a tour of the U.S. Capitol complex where Congress works, along with tours of the Library of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court. Be sure to stop by my office and say hello if you are visiting this Spring!
Whether you have a school trip, family vacation, or veteran's tour, my office can help make your visit to Washington, D.C. an unforgettable experience. You can begin the process of scheduling a tour by clicking here to go to our easy-to-use form. Call us with any additional questions at (202) 225-1956.
I am looking forward to seeing you in our nation's capital this season! I hope that we can make your trip a memorable one.
It had pretty pictures on it, including Buck's smiling face and a view of the Capital from his office window (nice view!).
A couple of items in the e-mail (predictably) annoyed me a bit (wanna guess which ones?), so I dashed him off a reply. No, I'm not naive enough to believe that he either wrote (or even saw) the e-mail he wrote or will see my reply, but I just felt like venting a bit, so I did.
Wow, Buck!
Hundreds of thousands of poor people are going to lose their homes due to the sequester.
The Army has suspended its tuition assistance plan for service members.
Kids getting kicked out of Head Start, and shoved off food stamps.
IRS agents being furloughed, costing the country even more revenue.
FBI agents being furloughed.
Marines being ordered by their Commandant to '...save every round...' of ammunition.
These are just a few examples that come immediately to mind. There are millions of people in this country who are, or will be, adversely affected by the sequester, some of them quite severely.
Yet you choose to spend my tax dollars sending me an e-mail to whine - yes I said whine - about losing your perk of sending constitutients to the White House for free tours.
It seems that the Secret Service has higher priorities than escorting tours and securing the White House from the public. Like perhaps catching real criminals? (But not the banksters who cost this country more than $10 trillion in the recent melt-down and recession, of course).
Can't you do better than that, Buck?
I have written you several times suggesting that you could use your position as a senior member of the Republican House caucus to provide some 'adult' leadership and forge a bi-partisan compromise to the sequester wounds you inflicted on the country.... and your response is to send out an e-mail blast blaming all of this on the President for '... his inability to lead in this fiscal crisis...' ?
I understand full well that your caucus has some - how do I put this tactfully? - challengingly extreme members, but I keep hoping that you're not one of them. Are you actually scared of a tea-bagger challenge in 2014, like so many Republicans? And if you are, will you look me in the eye and state that your re-election to office is more important than doing what's right for the country? Please give that some thought before you reply.
C'mon, Buck, there is a middle ground in this situation that is just begging to be applied. You worked with Speaker Gingrich and President Clinton back in the '90s to balance the budget - while you were impeaching him, no less - so you know how it is done, and you can help lead our country out of this mess if you will only work for the middle ground.
Paul Ryan's recent budget shows the devastation that would be visited on working and poor people, as well as the handouts to the rich, if a straight Republican budget were implemented. And even as a liberal, I can state that perhaps President Obama's budget solution isn't completely the way to go.
So how hard is it to realize that the solution lies in the middle?
You know that, I know that, everybody who really studies this issue knows that.
Get to it, Buck! That's what we elected you to do, not whine about White House tours.
Cheers.
OK, rant over. I feel a little better.