I Don’t Wanna Serve on the Budget Super Committee

Thursday, 04 August 2011 | by Pat's Picks

It’s the club no one wants to join. Now that the debt ceiling has been raised, lawmakers are facing another tough decision: who will serve on the “super committee” charged with the daunting task of reducing our deficit? Instead of offering up themselves, the LA Times says politicians have offered up a list of qualifications: Each one must be “serious,” “open-minded,” “principled” and a “glutton for punishment.”

Six Democrats and six Republicans will be pulled from the House and the Senate to serve on the committee, and despite the possibility of wielding some substantial power, some of the more “prominent prospects” were reading off their excuses. “I treasure my August with my family,” was Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl’s excuse. Plus, he added, “my bladder isn’t that strong. This is going to take an odd kind of person to serve on the committee.”

House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will have the ultimate decision about which Re[publicans will serve; their Democratic counterparts, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, will choose on the other side of the aisle. Guess it’s time to suck up to the boss.