Franken's SNL moment on the Senate floor

[stevedeshazer]

http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/126262778.html



For a moment Wednesday, Al Franken looked like he was back on the set of Saturday Night Live and not on the floor of the U.S. Senate. In a speech explaining that there would be no money to pay for military and security personnel if Congress doesn’t pass a bill increasing the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, Franken unveiled a large poster in the chamber that said, “Welcome Terrorists.”

Franken aimed his theater of the absurd at those who believe the U.S. doesn’t have to raise the debt limit to avoid economic catastrophe. He couched it as black humor, but certainly not as comic relief in a House and Senate deadlock that economists say puts the U.S. at risk of a financial meltdown.

“About a month ago, the Bipartisan Policy Center briefed members of the House Republican Caucus on the actual implications of the Aug. 2nd deadline — what we could pay, what we couldn’t pay,” Franken said. “…in the month of August, we could pay our debt interest, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, vendors for defense projects, and unemployment insurance — and that’s all.

“. . .no pay for active duty military. No benefits for veterans. No federal loans for low-income students about to head off to college in the fall. No federal government employees, including counter-terrorism agents in the FBI, for example. No border agents. Now before we default, we would have the time to make this sign. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

[Myrina]

1. Why would 'vendors for defense projects' get paid before soldiers?

:shrug: Jus' askin' ....

[KittyWampus]

2. Great question.

[hack89]

4. Congressmen don't want to be blamed for a bunch of voters

being laid off. Defense contracts touch a lot of companies that employ a lot of people.

[indurancevile]

11. i don't believe that for a minute. the people they're worried about paying aren't the employees,

but the OWNERS.

who incidentally also own congress.

our government has no qualms whatsoever about putting people out of work.

[Myrina]

12. ... but the sign doesn't say 'welcome jobs' ... it's 'welcome terrorists'

... Franken was trying to make the point that shutting down the gov't would make us less safe. DFAS is in my city. Sure people would be pissed off about not being paid but if that's really what might happen, I'm sure we'd all feel much safer paying the soldiers on the ground overseas than the accountants here in Indiana.

[hack89]

15. I never liked "terror, terror, terror" from Bush

I like it less from Democrats. I don't respond well to emotional hyperbole being used to influence my decisions.

[villager]

5. as society's owners -- along with the banks -- sure they would...

n/t

[gratuitous]

6. Because vendors would sue for breach of contract

Military personnel would just be ordered to suck it up.

[arcane1]

8. Halliburton, Blackwater, GE, KBR etc are the beneficiaries of war

Indeed, the whole point is to make them richer. I'm not at all surprised the rules work in their favor.

[jeff47]

13. Mostly 'cause they've already been paid

The government FY runs October to September. We're near the end of FY11, so most of the money that was going to defense contractors has already been sent to them.

[sad sally]

19. Could be because of this kind of bs

The ten largest defense contractors in the nation spent more than $27 million lobbying the federal government in the last quarter of 2009, according to a review of recently-filed lobbying records.

The massive amount of money used to influence* the legislative process came as the White House announced it would ramp up military activity in Afghanistan and Congress considered appropriations bills to pay for that buildup.

*leading people (Congress) who don't report to you

[corkhead]

20. they have better lobbyists

[geardaddy]

3. He's using their words to attack them.

I love it. Glad he's my senator.

[white_wolf]

7. Is there a video of this somewhere?

The link the OP posted just has the pictures.

[stevedeshazer]

9. I've looked all over for video, can't find it.

I hope someone can.

;)

[joshcryer]

14. Brietbart has one:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/07/al_franken_is_getting_started.html

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

10. There are whole cities and towns made up of voters, whose

sole economy is military support. Not saying that is good or bad, but FWIW.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[glowing]

17. The terrorists would be the republicans trying to break seniors and poor people on

The back of keeping the govt running.

[DCKit]

18. "Theater of the absurd"? What's absurd about it?

It's about the least absurd thing that's happened in the halls of Congress since January.