Boehner Has Decided Keeping The Anthony Weiner Memorial House Gym Open Is "Essential"

Aside from Progressive Caucus leaders Alan Grayson, Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison, who are all relatively safe for reelection, Blue AMerica has only endorsed 2 House incumbents so far this cycle. One is the progressive Member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation, Carol Shea-Porter and a press release she sent out of the weekend helps explain why.

The government has been shut down for eleven days, but Members of Congress who have paid membership continue to have access to their gym and spa while workers face furloughs.

“It is absolutely outrageous that John Boehner refuses to end the government shutdown but continues to give Members of Congress access to the spa,” Shea-Porter said. “It’s ridiculous for Paul Ryan and John Boehner to keep it open while American families and business are denied access to their government.”

Members of Congress should not be able to access the gym, sauna, and steam room while tens of thousands of federal employees remain furloughed.

“How can Speaker Boehner decide that a steam room is essential but a paycheck for workers is not?” Shea-Porter added.

Even the right-wing Washington Times was castigating the hapless Boehner for decided the House gym and spa are essential for the functioning on the government during the crisis. As they point out, the gym, "subsidized by taxpayers, is an elite and secured club for members of Congress only. Most outside of Capitol Hill weren’t even aware of its presence until former Rep. Anthony Weiner photographed himself in the locker room in 2011 and those pictures went viral. Some Members are whining that they don't have paid trainers or freshly laundered towels and the Tea Party freaks-- like Tim Walberg (R-MI), who inflates his air mattress under a "Don't Tread on Me" banner every night, Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Bill Huizenga-- who sleep in their offices and shower in the gym are making a commotion about the gym not being up to the standards they're used to during the shutdown they engineered and keep going.

As Judd Legum pointed out for Bill Moyers, "Head Start programs have been shuttered, small businesses can’t get loans and hundreds of thousands of federal government employees are furloughed. But the exclusive gyms available only to members of Congress have remained open throughout the shutdown… [T]the decision to keep the gym open-- even while other critical government services were shelved-- came directly from Speaker Boehner’s office [although] the staff gym available to Congressional staff has been closed." Same story in the Senate, where dangerous Lindsey Graham, who's always prowling the locker rooms in the hope of catching a glimpse of someone's junk, has been complaining that the gym is getting "rank."

Poor thing! Sometimes life seems hardly worth living.