House drops $40K on new member pins amid government spending fight | Semafor
semafor.com
The 118th Congress will be remembered for many firsts: Electing the first Black leader in the House, that 15-round speaker’s vote, and then removing that same speaker. The latest: Leadership swapped their apple-green members’ pins for deep navy ones mid-cycle at a cost of $40,000, according to one source familiar with the decision.
So, like... you know how these freaking boomers bitch at "kids these days" for their participation trophies??
This. This is a participation trophy. Try telling them they can't have it. I dare you.
A participation trophy for participating in a group made almost exclusively of election winners of various congressional districts?
40,000 bucks for 540 people is like 75 bucks a person. It's only a big deal if folks make it a big deal to spend time debating discussing. The biggest waste is spending significant time debating this given the salaries of all members involved.
It's still congress carving out a special perk for themselves. Give them a basic badge like all the support staff, and make them provide their own lanyard/case like they likely do for everyone else.
It's part of the job. It is a special privilege to be a member of congress. And the tradition of a congressional pin goes back a long time. I don't think it's uncommon for members of government to have some trinket the is a physical display of their position.
https://rollcall.com/2005/01/20/for-members-of-congress-traditional-lapel-pin-serves-as-more-than-just-a-form-of-identification/
Agreed 100
Still sounds high though, right? Are they made of tantalum?
Just think of all the tech bros and finance bros with their branded Patagonia vests and backpacks. $75 for federally elected leaders to have a pin that doubles as a security badge is a nothing burger, and shouldn't distract from passing of a budget which I am actually scared about.
It could have been one tenth as much and still be a gigantic waste of money AND it demonstrates how they're a bunch of gigantic hypocrites.
I wish I could just find $40,000 under the couch.
Be the US government and you'll find a lot more than that, in much stranger places.
Stranger even than a live armadillo in the anus?
That's strange?
Moscow Mitch doesn't like carrying a wallet. Ruins the lines of the suit he'll hopefully soon be buried in.
Needed new participation trophies
My 13 year old budgets her money better than grown ass humans.
“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Well, I'm going to go find out how many they bought. I doubt it will improve my opinion of the situation.
There are 435 voting members from states and 6 non-voting members who represent US territories like American Samoa, so likely at least 435 pins and maybe a handful more. That comes to a little over $90/pin.
That’s an expensive pin.
Doesn’t fit on thicker chains because the clasp is to small??? How does this apply to a pin or broach or whatever this ugly turd of a government collectable is.
“Thicker chains”. What, like Mr. T?
Maybe Madison Cawthorne, dressed as Mr. T… that’d be a cool costume ;-)

The federal government operates on a scale of millions or billions of dollars. This is a 0.04 million dollar purchase. Nobody should care.