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
But Abercrombie hasn’t stopped talking about it. He insists that the gym needs renovating and is pushing for federal money to finance a redesign.
Abercrombie showed last week that he’s not afraid to confront his leadership. Angered by a last-minute discovery that leaders would not schedule a floor vote on an Iraq bill he sponsored, Abercrombie introduced a motion to adjourn the House in protest, a rare tactic for a member of the majority to wield against his leaders. Abercrombie was the only Democrat to vote for the motion.
This is news to me, there is a House Gym Committee? I can’t afford Gold’s Gym and these bastards aren’t happy with their existing free facilities supplied to them by the taxpayers?
Suggestion: Everyone use the staffers’ gym and close the members’ gym.
Term limits is the answer.
Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats claimed that they’re draining the swamp. All we have left to do now is clean the sewer.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), the power-lifting chairman of the House gym committee.
What the hell is this? Are these people REALLY this stupid and this arrogant? I see that the dems/libs feel that they have so many government programs out there for the 'have nots' that they figure they can skim off the top for themselves. PATHETIC!!
And what the hell has happened to the democratic party? They 'use' to be for the down trodden, the working man, the 'have nots', while claiming that the reps are only for the rich. Well well well....I see that the dems are living a political platform lie.
A 'House gym committee' is beyond belief!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The project is personally important to Abercrombie, who sets a yearly goal to bench-press 200 pounds more than his age, now 69.
Is this person a representative of the Boomers???
I'd say he is in need of rehab.....
[quote]Posted on: Friday, April 29, 2005
Abercrombie denies violating House ethics rules in 2001 trip
By Dennis Camire Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said yesterday that a two-day trip to Boston in 2001 to speak before a social organization was paid for by the group and not a lobbying firm as originally reported on a House travel document.
House ethics rules prohibit members from allowing lobbyists to pick up their expenses.
To correct the mistake, Abercrombie said he filed an amended travel report last week listing the social organization — Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, a patriotic military fraternal organization chartered in 1638 — as the trip's sponsor.
Abercrombie said his policy has been to "obey the spirit and letter of the laws and rules" that apply to his public-service positions.
"My record in office, going back 30 years, reflects my commitment to that approach," he said. "I have acted in good faith at every step in the matter of my trip to Boston. I made no attempt to conceal the facts and voluntarily and on my own initiative brought the issue to the attention of the (House) Ethics Committee."
Abercrombie is among numerous congressional lawmakers who are reviewing and sometimes amending travel reports in light of the growing criticism surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican.
Travel underwritten by nonprofit organizations, trade associations, private companies and others is common among lawmakers and allowed under House and Senate ethics rules. Members of Congress have taken about $16 million in 5,410 privately financed trips since 2000, according to a recent study by Political Money Line, an online service that provides campaign-finance and lobbying data.
That total includes 19 trips by Abercrombie, valued at $26,185; five trips by Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, valued at $21,963; one by Sen. Dan K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, valued at $2,633; and one by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, valued at $3,275.
Abercrombie, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he filed a House travel disclosure as required by House rules. On the trip, he flew from Honolulu to Boston on June 3, 2001, for the artillery company's annual June Day dinner. Airfare was $1,782 and his hotel was $229, according to the travel documents.
"The information in the filing erroneously identified the sponsor of the trip," said Abercrombie in a statement. The report listed the sponsor as Rooney Group International, a firm that represents a variety of defense companies, because the firm had extended the invitation on behalf of the social organization, Abercrombie said.
"When questions about the trip were first raised on April 20, my staff reviewed the matter and learned that the Rooney Group had been reimbursed for my air fare by Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts," Abercrombie said.[/quote
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...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Image, Congressional Pictorial Directory, 109th. ABERCROMBIE, Neil, a Representative from Hawaii; born in Buffalo, Erie County, N.Y., June 26, 1938; graduated from Williamsville High School, Williamsville, N.Y.; B.A., Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., 1959; M.A., University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, 1964; Ph.D., University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, 1974; unsuccessful candidate for United States Senate in 1970; member of the Hawaii state house of representatives, 1974-1978; member of the Hawaii state senate, 1978-1986; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-ninth Congress in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative Cecil Heftel (September 20, 1986-January 3, 1987); unsuccessful candidate for election to the One Hundredth Congress in 1986; member of the Honolulu city council, 1988-1991; elected to the One Hundred Second and to the eight succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1991-present).
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Bumble you said that the Dems used to be for the down trodden person but over the last decade or two the Dems were the ones who voted to tap into the SS fund so that it's not a self sustaining fund anymore. The Dems were the ones who voted to tax your SS payment and remember that John Kerry, and John Edwards are far from poor with John getting his $400 haircuts. The Dems have no trouble spending a ton of money as long as it's our tax money that they're spending.
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