Pelosi arm-wrestles over cash for the House gym

[RamboLiberal]

Source: The Hill

After dueling with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) to pass a renewable energy bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces a wrestling match with another rogue chairman. And this one can bench-press 265 pounds.

Pelosi is set to square off against Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), the power-lifting chairman of the House gym committee.

Abercrombie is touting his efforts to secure funding in the legislative branch spending bill to begin an estimated $8 million renovation of the House gym. The project is personally important to Abercrombie, who sets a yearly goal to bench-press 200 pounds more than his age, now 69.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are not eager for a multimillion-dollar renovation of the congressional members-only gym to be one of the first accomplishments of the Democratic majority. They worry that freshman Democrats could be attacked on the campaign trail next year for approving a fancy new gym for themselves after winning office.

Democratic leaders held a special meeting with Abercrombie earlier this year to tell him that now is not the time for a new House gym and also instructed him not to mention the issue to reporters, according to Democratic sources


Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-arm-wrestles-over-cash-for-the-house-gym-2007-08-08.html

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Gee, I don't get a gym membership with my employment - you all should have to pay a fee and finance renovations out of that!

[Lance_Boyle]

1. I bet Abercrombie could afford a gym membership on his own.

How do we petition the House to de-fund its gym?

[aquart]

2. How much will each Congressmember be assessed to pay for it?

[peace13]

4. They can each bill their state and see how that flies! n/t

[RamboLiberal]

5. Do staffers get to use it?

I'd charge whatever is comparable to a similar private facility.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. If we're paying for it...

We should all get to use it.

[MissMillie]

34. staffers have their own gym and

apparently it's nicer and newer than the current gym that the Congressmen and Senators use.

[peace13]

3. This just gets crazier by the minute!

She best show some woman balls and stop this insanity.

[JDPriestly]

6. They have a gym and we don't get health care.

That is irresponsible. You pass laws with the gym you've got, guys, not the gym you might like.

[Doctor_J]

7. I repeat - when the Titanic goes down, the deck charis will all be in a row

:crazy:

[mountainvue]

26. And the band played on...n/t

[JDPriestly]

8. I generally oppose privatization, but privatization of the congressional

gym sounds good to me -- at least until all of us plebes out here have access to a free gym at government expense. What a waste of money. What a boondoggle. I'm beginning to understand why Pelosi can't get Democrats to focus on preserving our freedom. They are having too much fun. Is that where those guys are hiding out during floor debates? Why don't they just move the gym equipment onto the floors of the Senate and Congress so we can at least see what our "representatives" are doing. Herding cats -- that's Pelosi's job. No wonder she can't do it.

[rodeodance]

9. read the whole artcle for the ject of the facilities. They SUCK-esp for Women:

The women (including lawmakers’ wives) have a smaller, separate gym next to their locker rooms in Rayburn.

To get to the main gym from the women’s locker rooms, they must walk across an underground parking lot. If they want to use the cardiovascular equipment, for example, they must walk through the men’s locker rooms.

Some congresswomen are fed up.

Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) says she doesn’t use the gym because it’s not convenient from her office in the Longworth House Office Building.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, said, “I don’t mind working out in front of men, but you have to go through the men’s locker room.”

[acmavm]

24. They're fed up? BFD, so am I. With them. They can take out a damn

membership. We have homeless, hungry, and uninsured people here who would just love a roof over their heads, a decent meal, and some god damn health care.

[raebrek]

31. Convenient

I always get a kick out of people that say it is just not convenient. Especially when it come to going to th gym. example: "hey, do you want to walk to the gym and work out.: response: "no it's to far, lets drive." That just kills me. But seriously 8 million dollars in renovations??? What are they smoking?

Raebrek!!!

[Zhade]

36. With the world on fire and the criminals in the White House running free, WHO FUCKING CARES?

NT!

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

10. $8 MILLION!!! WTF...

Gold plated weights? Christ - join the fucking YMCA...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. They don't need a gym

If they want exercise, how about personally answering letters and phone calls from their constituents?

[rich1107]

12. I will contibute

if the new Gym helps Democrats grow spines;)

[superconnected]

13. She'll give in.

[TlalocW]

14. If Abercrombie is so concerned about keeping up his max

And doesn't like the equipment, he can go out, spend $500.00 for a new bench to lie back on, new bar, and new weights and put it in his damn office so no one else can touch it and move his new weights around where he can't find them.

In the meantime, if we're currently funding the gym they have now, they need to be going out on the weekends and getting pledges from people for monthly liftathons or walking laps around the track, etc. to pay for anything new they want (I'll give you 50 cents for everytime you lift 140 pounds or every lap you walk - that kind of thing).

And for God's sake, make Hastert's participation mandatory. I worry about that boy.

TlalocW

[bamacrat]

15. Im sure its far nicer than most gyms in America, even if it is old.

This would be a waste of money and a pointless piece of legislation that would be pounced on by the MSM and every puke in the country.

[gorekerrydreamticket]

16. This article makes Abercrombie sound like an entitled narcissistic asshole...n/m

[Xithras]

17. 8 Million?!?!?!

Things deteriorate, rooms get decrepit, equipment gets unsafe to use. I don't have a problem with our congresspeople having a gym, and I'm OK with the gym needing renovation from time to time, but 8 MILLION dollars?!?! I belong to a gym and excercise every day. I know what gym equipment costs. A coat of paint, a new floor, and replacement equipment shouldn't cost over $500,000. Heck, they could build a modern gym, put in a full sized pool, AND build an adjoining PT center for less than a million.

If you gave me 8 million bucks to build a gym, I think I'd run out of things to buy LONG before I ran out of money.

Who's building this thing, Halliburton?

[Javaman]

18. I'm so happy that this very important piece of funding

is being discussed while our soldiers are getting killed daily in the fucked up war.

drip drip drip goes our rights

bang bang bang goes another solder dead

and

tick tick tick as our elected "leaders" run out the clock

I'm so glad there was new signal sent to moron* last november, the problem is the elected dems didn't get the message.

[Zhade]

37. Actually, I think the problem is that the Dems are sending a message.

"We don't really represent you. Now shut the fuck up and vote for us - what are you gonna do, vote for a Republican?"

We're getting punked. AGAIN.

[onehandle]

19. $8 million would fund the Iraq war for several seconds.

Beats funding the deaths of our soldiers.

[corbett]

20. They Can Afford It When Earning Almost $170,000 Per Year

When I get up there, I will have no problem paying for the renovations. That's a promise.

[seriousstan]

21. Will they pull an all-nighter for this one?

[Solly Mack]

22. Damn

[Megahurtz]

23. Oh For God's Sake!

People dying by the day in Iraq, people losing their jobs and no Health Care
and this is what she's spending her time on? :wtf:

:banghead:

[dragonlady]

33. She's opposing it

It's not her idea, but if one of the members brings it up she has to respond to the situation.

[Hotler]

25. 265! is that all?

What a pussy. And that's like what one repetition?

[Psephos]

28. Works out to $18,390 per Member

WTF is wrong with these weak fools? Could anyone here have imagined behavior like this last fall? :grr:

[Vidar]

29. And fiddling with this crap is more important than impeachment, the

constitution, or justice.

[Phrogman]

30. Fucking sickening

just despicable.

[momster]

32. Big Arms -- Little Brain?

So this Ambercrombie dude wants to bench-press 265 at our expense? Has anybody measured the blood flow to his brain while he's lifting? His sense of entitlement must be more engorged than any muscle he's flexing.

[Zhade]

35. Uh, Pelosi? REAL CRIMES OCCURRING, PEOPLE STILL DYING.

Get your fucking priorities straight, you incompetent cowards!