Republicans (especially their President) have made some increasingly ridiculous public statements lately, which has left us to only imagine what they’re keeping to themselves … until they accidentally spill it on a hot mic, that is. That’s exactly what happened with Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democrat Jack Reed today, and it’s equal parts frightening, absurd, and hilarious—well, maybe not exactly equal.
During the exchange, which can now be found documented across the internet, Collins complained of the way the Office of Management and Budget—which oversees the implementation of the president’s budget vision, but is not part of the legislature—basically just crosses out any budget item that’s a grant, which Collins finds ” incredibly irresponsible.” Hopefully, she’ll act accordingly when the time comes for the Senate to actually act on such a thing, as she’s been one of the few Republicans so far to have saved us from the Senate GOP’s health care legislation so far.
With the way the health care bill has been crafted largely in secret and rammed through recklessly, I have to imagine that Collins also found that “incredibly irresponsible,” but she seems pretty alone in terms of Republican senators who feel that way—or who care about acting on it, at least. At this point, Collins is the GOP senator who’s voted against Trump the most, and she’s still voted with his whims 86% of the time. I don’t know why we had to find out how she really feels accidentally, though. We’d probably be better of if she switched things around and started publicly calling her party’s actions irresponsible, while keeping her 86% agreement to herself.
She also said she doesn’t think Trump has any idea how the budget process works, as mandated by law, and I have to bet she’s right on about that. Reed, of course, had harsher words for Trump, like “crazy,” which he also applied to members of the House of Representatives. I’m pretty sure we all know which ones. Republican infighting has been as much a hurdle in the legislative process as—maybe more than—Democratic resistance, with one House representative, Blake Farenthold, saying he’d duel with three Republican Senators who oppose the health care legislation … if they were men:
“Some of the people that are opposed to this, there are female senators from the Northeast … If it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”
Collins had a few personal thoughts to share on Farenthold, including, “Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this Playboy bunny?” By that, she meant this shot of Farenthold at a pajama party:
This is the photo Sen. Susan Collins was referring to when she commented on Rep. Blake Farenthold wearing pajamas in 2010. pic.twitter.com/jZYCPC4FYW
— Beatrice-Elizabeth (@MissBeaE) July 25, 2017
Nothing says duel-worthy badass like ducky PJs. My money’s on Collins—both in a duel and to hopefully rescue us from “incredibly irresponsible” legislation, since Farenthold and most of the Republican party don’t seem to mind it so much.
(image: SparkCBC)
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