Congress' Approval Rating Is At 14%. Want To Know Why?

Because they pull stuff like this:

Working the floor:

The House erupted in chaos Thursday morning with Democrats crying foul after Republicans hastily convinced a few of their own to switch their votes and narrowly block an amendment intended to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from discrimination.

It was an unruly scene on the floor, with Democrats chanting “shame!” after GOP leaders just barely muscled up the votes to reject, 212-213, an amendment by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) that would have effectively barred federal contractors from getting government work if they discriminate against the LGBT community.

At one point, a monitor in the House gallery showed there were 217 votes supporting the legislation, eliciting cheers of joy from Democrats who thought the measure might actually pass. But over the course of about 10 minutes, those votes suddenly dropped one by one to 212 — and the amendment failed. . . .

Maloney, the amendment's author, was furious with Republicans for how they handled the floor fight over his offering. He singled out Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in particular for criticism, saying the No. 2 House Republican personally lobbied GOP members to change their votes when it looked like Maloney's proposal would pass.

"The leader [McCarthy] went around and twisted their arms, and they voted for discrimination," Maloney said. When Maloney complained directly to McCarthy, he said the majority leader told him "to get back on your own side."

McCarthy actually held the vote open until they got enough votes to defeat the amendment, which is against House rules.

And -- you'd better shut off your irony meter for this one -- via Digby, this quote from The Boys Wonder's office:

"Our veterans and troops were prioritized over a political messaging amendment that could have jeopardized the final passage of the appropriations bill," said Speaker Paul Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee Strong in a statement.

Excuse me -- which party is it that keeps trying to cut appropriations for the VA? And refuses to raise salaries for enlisted personnel?

And, while our infrastructure is crumbling, more and more people are entering poverty, and climate change will wipe out most of our major cities in the next few decades, they spend their time on things like this:

A Republican lawmaker has proposed legislation that would ban federal spending on yoga classes for federal workers.

The bill from Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., doesn't prohibit federal workers from doing yoga. But they would have to use their own money to rebalance their chakras if his proposal became law.

The bill is one of Salmon's several proposals to reduce wasteful federal spending. Salmon said free yoga classes aren't something taxpayers should pay for just because workers get those kinds of perks at high-tech companies.

In case you don't appreciate the magnitude of the waste:

Salmon said the Department of Energy and EPA alone spent more than $168,000 on yoga classes over the last five years. "Government, bending over backwards to waste your money," Paul's report said.

That's less than Rep. Salman's salary for one year. I have a better idea on how to cut government waste. . . .

Jon Green has some observations on Salmon and his cost-cutting at AmericaBlog.