Republicans Compromise on Towel Service

Has Fox News ever been critical of the Republican Party? They have now. In a recent clip from Greta Van Sustern, the Republicans were identified as people unconcerned with the average American, and totally focused on themselves.
The story revealed that the Republicans have deemed their swimming pool, basketball courts, sauna and steam room as “essential items”. Taxpayers are still paying for maintenance and cleaning of these work-out areas. The GOP has compromised by forfeiting the towel service.

Just to review, let’s consider what is considered to be “essential” in the way of government services. “Essential activities” are defined as those services designed to protect life and property or services essential to the national security interest.”

For example “non-essential” services include :
 The National Institutes of Health will stop accepting new patients for clinical research and stop answering hotline calls about medical questions.
 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will stop its seasonal flu program and have a “significantly reduced capacity to respond to outbreak investigations.”
 The Department of Housing and Urban Development will not be able to provide local housing authorities with additional money for housing vouchers.
 The Department of Homeland Security will no longer operate its E-Verify program, which means that businesses will not be able to check on the legal immigration status of prospective employees during the shutdown.
 The Justice Department will suspend many civil cases for as long as the government is shut down.
 The National Park Service will close more than 400 national parks and museums, including Yosemite National Park in California, Alcatraz in San Francisco, and the Statue of Liberty in New York.
 The Environmental Protection Agency will close down almost entirely during a shutdown, save for operations around Superfund sites.
 Many of the Labor Department’s regulatory offices will close, including the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (The Mine Safety and Health Administration will, however, stay open.)
 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the vast U.S. derivatives market, will largely shut down.
 The Social Security Administration won’t have enough employees to do things like help recipients replace their benefit cards or schedule new hearings for disability cases.
 The Veterans Benefits Administration will be unable to process education and rehabilitation benefits. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals will be unable to hold hearings. What’s more, if the shutdown lasts for more than two or three weeks, the Department of Veterans Affairs has said that it may not have enough money to pay disability claims and pension payments. That could affect some 3.6 million veterans.
 The Department of Agriculture will cut off support for the Women, Infants and Children program, which helps pregnant women and new moms buy healthy food and provides nutritional information and health care referrals. The program reaches some 9 million Americans.

How can the GOP reconcile paying themselves salary, and continuing to charge the American people for use of their exercise facilities, which the deem to be “essential services”, but 9 million women and children are unable to buy healthy food?

No wonder the Republican Party has fallen to an all-time low approval ratings. Now only 24% of Americans have a favorable view of Republicans, which is the very lowest level since the poll was started. A whopping 70% of Americans recognize that Republicans are putting politics ahead of what is best for the country. Gallup Polls confirm these declining numbers, finding that only 28% of Americans still have a favorable view of Republicans. That is the lowest rating since Gallup started asking questions 21 years ago!

Even when they get their towels back, it’s doubtful whether they can clean up the mess they’ve created.