Thursday, March 01, 2012

Congress - disciplining all for the sins of some

The "No bill, no pay" bill is gaining traction in Congress.

Essentially, no member of Congress shall receive any pay if some members of Congress refuse to pass all appropriations bills, and none shall receive any back pay once all the appropriations bills are passed.

In other words, if 200 Representatives vote for any given appropriations bill and 235 vote against, then not only will the 235 nays not get pay but the 200 yays will not get paid.

Also imagine the mischief one Representative can do by somehow getting to the floor an appropriations bill that nobody supports.

This makes me think of an incident at a Y-camp that I call "poop in the pool management".  I attended a Y camp when I was about ten years old.  Everyday we got time in the pool.  One day feces were discovered in the pool.  Instead of having pool time, we all had to sit in the dining hall until somebody revealed who left his poop in the pool.

So dozens of kids who were completely ignorant of what had happened had to sit until somebody 'fessed up.  I would guess the culprit didn't care about the rest of us; why do what he did?  Besides, why get a worse punishment by confessing.

So, dozens of Congress people who have been intransigent on getting appropriations passed want to punish other members of Congress for their own sins.