NEWS AND OPINION:
Sen. Mitt Romney has cited a certain pattern of behavior on Capitol Hill which is not productive, he said.
“There are some people who have gone to Washington to make noise and there are others who went to Washington to make law and to get things done. And the presence of the noisemakers are becoming larger and larger. And interestingly, they seize on anything to make a lot of noise, whether or not it’s really going to make a difference,” the Utah Republican said in a wide-ranging interview with KSLTV, an NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City.
The discussions about spending will be particularly noisy — particularly entitlement spending, Mr. Romney predicted.
Entitlement spending, by the way, includes funding for such “entitlement” programs as Medicare and Social Security, as well as other payments to people, businesses, and state and local governments.
What can we expect?
“My guess is that we will have a lot of screaming and shouting, and we’ll end up shutting down the government and a lot of people will be inconvenienced or hurt as a result of doing that. But we’ll do it. And by the way, we’ll shut down the government and then we’ll open it. It’s not like that means we win. No, no, we just shut it down to show that we’re fighting and making noise,” the lawmaker advised in the interview, which aired Sunday.
Those lawmaker manners
Speaking of screaming and shouting, are there formal guidelines for behavior on Capitol Hill? Why yes. There are.
The current “Code of Official Conduct in the U.S. House was issued on Jan. 10. The lengthy code — 22 different sections — is a complicated guideline indeed. Curious? Visit Ethics.House.gov and find the rules under the “Publications” heading.
On the U.S. Senate side, things are also complex. See for yourself under the “Rules & Standards” heading found at Ethics.senate.gov.
The persistent age factor
Americans appear to have limited interest in U.S. presidents who have reached a certain age. An Associated Press poll spells out the details.
It found that 77% of U.S. adults think President Biden is “too old to effectively serve another 4-year term as president.”
Lawmakers do not escape the judgment call. The poll also found that 68% of U.S. adults favor setting a maximum age for candidates to be eligible to run for U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
Another 67% favor requiring that U.S. Supreme Court justices retire by a certain age, while 66% favor setting a maximum age for candidates to be eligible to run for U.S. president.
Meanwhile, 51% think former President Donald Trump is too old to effectively serve another 4-year term as president.
The source here is an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of 1,165 U.S. adults conducted Aug. 8-14.
Working and non-working
Sen. Marco Rubio will release a significant report this week titled “The State of the Working (And Non-Working) Man,” which details the problems men face in their vital role as providers.
“Unfortunately, the evidence is clear that working-aged men are not doing well at all. Across the board, they are suffering a generational decline in quality jobs and falling out of the labor force in staggering numbers. These problems have grim consequences, not just for men, but for women, children and our nation as a whole,” the Florida Republican wrote in a brief editorial for Fox News on Monday.
He points out that the federal government spends about $175 billion funding higher education — but only $20 billion on practical training programs.
“To make matters worse, it often seems the only thing policymakers and the media have for men is criticism, as though they are the source of all our problems, and those who are suffering have nothing to blame but themselves,” Mr. Rubio wrote.
“What is the root cause of men’s present woes? There is no single culprit behind the carnage, but our report identifies five factors that are particularly worthy of attention: deindustrialization, open borders, corrosive welfare programs, changes in education and recent revolutions in American culture and technology. We must respond to these factors head-on,” he said.
“For policymakers, this means decoupling critical industries from Communist China and supporting the return of (heavily male) manufacturing jobs. It means clamping down on illegal and low-skilled immigration, which has depressed the wages of American men deemed unable to compete by Washington,” Mr. Rubio advised.
“And it means adopting a work-first approach to safety net programs — not to punish men who are down on their luck, but to spur them to better themselves and send a message that in America, able-bodied men are expected to work,” he said.
Just in case
Summer has waned — but perhaps there are those who want to make one more excursion before autumn arrives. TripAdvisor has got you covered.
“Close out summer with one final send-off,” the consumer site says, pointing to such themed experiences as “Bucket List” travel, “Small towns, big fall energy,” “Easy weekend escapes” “10 trip ideas that don’t require a passport” and a “Go-To Guide for Fall.”
Find the possibilities at TripAdvisor.com.
Poll du jour
32% of registered U.S. voters say former President Donald Trump’s ideology is “conservative.”
46% of those who voted for Mr. Trump in 2020 and 19% of those who voted for then-candidate Joseph R. Biden also agree.
29% say that he is “very conservative”
22% of Trump voters and 37% of Biden voters also agree.
18% are “not sure” about Mr. Trump’s ideology.
8% of Trump voters and 27% of Biden voters also agree.
13% say he is a “moderate.”
21% of Trump voters and 6% of Biden voters also agree.
4% say he is “very liberal.”
1% of Trump voters and 6% of Biden voters also agree.
3% say he is “liberal.”
2% of Trump voters and 5% of Biden voters also agree.
Source: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,301 registered U.S. voters conducted Aug. 26-29.
Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
