Chaffetz is Whining Over Money
Short timer Jason Chaffetz is now saying part of his decision to resign was economic, saying he can’t afford 2 mortgages and college for his kids. He wants a $2,500 per month housing allowance for members of Congress. Chaffetz is a FIVE TERM representative. Someone should remind ol’ Jason that the Founders never intended for elected positions in the Congress or the White House to be careers; it’s called public service. You get elected, serve one or two terms, then GO HOME to live with the laws you passed.
Being a public servant is just that – being a servant. You’re not supposed to get rich, or make a career out of it. Congress itself has feathered its own nest for decades, entrenching fossilized members who should have gone home when bell bottoms went out of style. I have zero sympathy for reps who sleep in their offices or struggle to pay bills – they should never be so comfortable that they stay.
Chaffeetz’s whining is just one more reason that term limits for EVERY elected official is a must. Politicians are just like diapers. They both need to be changed regularly and for the same reason.
But if he leaves Congress, he might not be able to afford health insurance for his wife, children and the loss of coverage for his pre-existing whiny crybaby syndrome.
1So sorry, Jason. But there’s not a drop left in the federal budget for you, after you and your pals Darrell Issa & Trey Gowdy spent endless amounts on repetitious investigations of the obvious. Plus your pal over in the Senate, Teddie Crooze, squandered a boatload of bucks shutting down the government, while being a national embarrassment and all around horse’s ass reading a children’s book.
Your shelf life is expired. Go home!
2Not old enough to say I knew what the Founding Fathers meant but I don’t think being in Congress was meant to be your career. Term limits why did’t they think of them, I think ten year and go home should be maximum. I agree with all you said, hear, hear!
3Why does he have 2 mortgages? Doesn’t his wife work, like most blue-collar wives? Is he living beyond his means by that much?
Maybe the ethics committee should look over his financials, see if he’s using campaign funds to cover his outrageous lifestyle.
Hey, could that be the real reason he’s resigning?
4It shouldn’t be an issue for him now – he just joined FAUX NEWZZ effective 7/1/17.
5Most of these guys never go home to live after they leave Congress (see Bob Dole). They get cushy jobs as lobbyists or talking heads like Newt Gingrich.
There would be more sympathy for the likes of Chaffetz if he hadn’t been in the GOP cabal which has refused to raise the federal Minimum Wage for years and years and has done everything possible to make life even more miserable for the poors.
6Not on board with the term limits thing. There are examples of this at the state level, after all, and they are potentially instructive as far as the inevitable unintended consequences are concerned.
The primary issue is the fact that with term limits, legislators are usually less experienced than lobbyists. So guess who rules?
7There is a simple solution to Jason’s problem – send him home so he only needs 1 house.
A word about term limits, we already have them, they are called elections. Every 2, 4, or 6 years we can get smart and send them packing. As to the other approach, Missouri was a democratic state, we enacted term limits it’s been a bit over 10 years, Republicans control everything, we’ve been gerrymandered into submission, they are enacting anti-abortion laws, anti labor laws and we are considered one of the top 10 least ethical states. The latest proposal is an anti contraception law that allows employers & landlords to discriminate against women who use contraception not to mention a state rep who disembowels chickens on Facebook to illustrate his pov on abortion.
Correlation isn’t causation but when you take away all of the experience you lose intelligent, informed leadership so be careful what you ask for.
8yeah, me too…….I want a housing allowance……and while one is at it, health care like our congress people, and $$$ for life after I leave or am defeated…….
9M, term limits without full disclosure of lobbying and taking into account the bureaucracy will not work, imo, for the reason you stated. Otherwise, this is the way to go to get some kinda idea of who’s on first at the beginning and not after the horse has gone and the barn been sold.
10He really has only one mortgage on the house in Utah. He has 4 kids and from his own mouth the other day I heard him say he is paying for all of them in college which does not leave him with enough $$ to cope with D.C. rental prices on a studio so he sleeps in his office. You all probably know that other congress critters get together and throw in enough $$ to rent a 3 bedroom or bigger apartment. Not this guy. He has been seen wandering down the hall in his House building wearing a bath robe and carrying towel, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste to use the shower in the gym. I frankly do not want to see what his most private office looks like at any time. Or even what it smells like. Other Americans within a mile of his House office building are sleeping in cardboard boxes in alleys but oh boy he has to whine aout how bad it is for him. No class, that guy.
11Is he still tithing 10%?
12I really wish Chaffetz and the rest of those overpaid goons would discover TWMDBS and actually come in here and read what is being said about them.
13We can all blow off steam in here but wouldn’t it be great if the subject being verbally torn apart could actually see what folks think of them.
So, we’re in a cauldron [the chat room] of boiling water while the goose aka the RWNJs are wandering around mindlessly thinking everyone loves them!
I think they are beginning to realize it ain’t love, honey!!!
As part of their service they could all just be on a close, well secured, meals and health care included military base–if it good enough for the people who put their lives on the line for the oil companies, then it’s good enough for these whores (sorry, mamma) that make big bucks off of servicing them.
14Yep, it’s expensive to run two households –one only part-time, so standardized housing–and if you need a secretary, there are plenty of them in a pool at the base, as well as setting up car pools with rides into the D.C. Offices at, say, 5,6,7am and back at 9, 11pm and 1am–that would cut back on traffic was well. Win win for everyone! Maybe even uniforms (ha) to get them ready for life in prison after their term of service is over!
With a few changes, only people who really want to be of service would run. Get rid of the lobbyists–and the fat cat lifestyle–the honor would come from the being of service, not the profit you wrong out of being there!
I’m a bit cranky today…been really sick and I have no time for the idiots like McConnell and Cruz and Paul Ryan makes me want to punch something!
“Wring” out of being there…dang spellcheck
15Yes, what M. says: term limits tend to give lobbyists and political party professionals the upper hand.
On the other hand, how about letting politicians live in the same housing projects as the other folks on public assistance, or giving them the same amount to live on that we give folks seeking public housing? It would be a valuable educational experience for them to have to stand in long lines, or wait for weeks to get an appointment, or…
16Mr. Phillips, maybe Jason was confused. Did he mean two wives and one mortgage? As for his 10% tithing, he probably subscribes to the Romney plan – 10% of their income they can’t keep hidden from the IRS and their Church.
Marcia in CO, e-mail the little varmints and share what you consider the tastiest little tidbits they need to know from the WMDBS. Jane and I do that with our waffle snowflake, Dean Heller. We do our best to keep Dean internet savvy with choice educational moments from all over the internet. We would never consider punishing a dog with a rolled up newspaper; Dean is the exception to that rule.
maggie, we really do need to insist that Congressional security does a better job of clearing OUR House of these lazy moochers staying past the end of the business day.
Oy vey. Donnie has turned our once respected White House into a house of ill repute, while those snacilbupeR varmints are turning OUR office space into flop houses.
17Term limits are a terrible idea.
18Elise Von Holten, I like how you think. Great recommendation for their office hours and a win-win on busing those clowns to work. Let them feel super special riding in the car pool lane. 😀
19Just a question because I’m no tax law pro, but…
20If he’s a permanent resident of a state, and he rents in DC because of his job, isn’t that a legitimate tax-deductible business expense?
Anyone know about this stuff?
Po’ Po’ Jason having to eke out a living on only $174,000 dollars a year. This is over six times the poverty level for a family of four. (oldest of his three children has all ready married)
21Someone earning minimum wage with time and half after 40 hrs. would need to put in over 45 hrs. a day 7 days a week, to earn this kind of money.
The House was in session 142 days during 2015, a year that did not conflict with their primary job of getting elected. Not a bad deal for someone with just a BA in communications. Beats the heck out of saying ‘would you like curly fries with that order’.
As for term limits I’m not so sure. Institutional memory of “Oh gee wiz we tried that back in ’82 and it was failure because of A. B. and C. or I remember the last time we tried that, what a fiasco.It is not a bad thing. It is only with time that the Great Elder Statesmen arise. The Good Lord knows we could use some of them today.
Let Jason take his crybaby act over to Faux News and hopefully the good folks in the Utah 3rd will send someone that puts the country above their own petty interest.
Cole, Utah’s special capon, Jason, comes from a district that still thinks developing nuclear waste is a good idea and draining the Green River to do it is just spiffy economic investment. I’d bemoan why Utah was ever admitted to the Union, but at the current moment there are a few questionable states ahead of them. Mo Brooks got your ears up in Alabama?
22one can always hope.
23My father, who I miss dearly, told me while I lived in Washington DC, that there are two types of people there: those with lots of power and those with lots of money who try to influence the other type. If someone has both, they are probably doing something illegal.
Sure enough. There are many wonderful hardworking public servants who are very much underpaid trying to make a living in a very expensive city, and then there are the lobbyist and lawyers who have no power, but are paid extremely well to convince the public servants to draft a rule or pass a law that benefits their clients.
El Jefe is correct that public service is just that – an honor bestowed by the people that entrusts a person with great authority. The very essence of corruption is a violation of that trust.
24Looks like Chaffetz sold out and signed with Fox News. The little swine.
25Yeah, I called the Faux gig when he first announced that he was quitting Congress. It’s an ideal job for the Chaffetz types; spew the same bullcrap for a lot more money, and without having to run for reelection.
And the real reason he’s leaving is obvious. Like nearly everyone else, he assumed that Hillary would be elected. His plan was to spend his next 2 terms running bogus investigations against her. Without Hillary to persecute, there really wasn’t anything else that Chaffetz was interested in doing. And probably little or nothing that he knows how to do.
But I thought that he wanted to Spend More Time With His Family. Sooo, is he moving them all to New York? Or will Faux let him remote broadcast from Utah?
Whatever. I’m just glad to be rid of him.
26Lots of civil servants live in DC on a lot less than Chaffetz earns. The truth is, he cannot actually manage his money properly (like all republicans). He just needs to give up that fancy iPhone and voila, rent…
Also, rumor in DC is he’s leaving because his wife caught wind of the mistress he lives with while in DC…..She’s a little late and slow on the uptake. (The wife, not the mistress)
27I agree with M on term limits–those would leave lobbyists knowing more about bills they want passed than Congresspeople, which cannot be good. Also, the committee system is based on seniority, which won’t work if term limits are imposed. The idea of term limits sounds better than it could work in practice.
If Jason Chaffetz can’t survive on his salary of $174,000, plus Congressional perks, he needs to budget more carefully. Do none of his kids qualify for grants or scholarships? Not all of them are income-based.
He doesn’t actually have to live in DC. There are plenty of moderately-priced rentals in the VA and MD suburbs he could share with other Congresscritters, if he’s seriously broke. Of course, those are probably beneath his dignity. He needs to get over himself. But he just got a job with Faux News, so he won’t have to worry about it any more.
28This is the same special snowflake who said that if people couldn’t afford healthcare, they should just not get an iPhone.
This is the same special snowflake who led the attack on what DC residents (with no voting rep in Congress) could vote to do with their own tax money.
Do let the door slam your ass on the way out, boy.
And if he can’t afford DC because he has four kids, let’s find out if he’s ever said anything about people who have too many kids and can’t support them. If he hasn’t said it, his colleagues have.
29Fox can have him. He was just a problem in Congress. Are we supposed to believe that what we pay him has not been enhanced from outside sources????
30Congress critters who leave in the middle of their term for “better opportunities” or “family reasons” leave their constituents/taxpayers with a big bill to vote in their replacement. I hate that.
31Simple solution:
HUD, using their standard design, builds an apt bldg for all Reps & Senators. Rooms are assigned randomly to foster talking among each other. Anyone who declines residency has their room forfeited to someone on Section 8 housing. Oh — and their salaries are now cut since lodging is provided.
32Alan in Austin- now that’s a plan I can get behind!
33The Twitterverse viciously laid into Chafed Butz over this bit of crapola. Much of it was similar to the clever words of Rhea and AlanInAustin. Let the Public Servants be treated as they wish to treat the citizens.
34Still prefer the approach to politician used by ancient Sparta. When the official’s term was up he was arrested and placed on trial. Every action during the term was checked for any violation of Spartan law. If the official was found to be guilty he could be sentenced to varying terms including being walled up alive. I wonder how many rethugs would meet that punishment? Quite a few.
35Okay, D.C. is expensive. Everybody else who works in D.C. lives in Maryland and takes the train in. Chaffetz can’t do that?
36Sorry Jefe, I’m not down with term limits. One would hardly think so to look today, but giants have walked the halls of Congress. The recent teabagger Congresses illustrate what happens when we jettison all institutional memory. I look forward to the day when we reform campaign finance and end gerrymandering. Then we should have competitive elections again and won’t have to hear about term limits.
37Term limits is an attractive nuisance. Completing and passing legislation is too complicated to leave to amateurs and lobbyists.
YOU will rue the day you limited terms since the only people who are good enough to stay are the ethical and liberal.
Think about it.
38