Mark Pocan: “In bizarre Washington news of the last week, the raging controversy is whether the President of the United States…”

“In bizarre Washington news of the last week, the raging controversy is whether the President of the United States referred to other countries and a continent as s---holes or s---houses. As if either word means a drop of difference, especially when you insult other nations in the world as our President did. Equally worrisome is that the leadership of this branch of government, the U.S. House of Representatives, a coequal branch of government, has been complicit or silent about how to respond to the comments made by our President. In fact, Speaker Paul Ryan took 19 hours and 53 minutes to respond. And with all of that time, enough time to have driven from Washington, D.C., to Dallas, Texas, or to watch the movie ``Jaws'' nine times, what was his stinging and necessary rebuke after that much time and thought? ``Unfortunate.'' The Speaker said the President's comments were unfortunate and unhelpful. Look, it is unfortunate when you walk outside and step in a puddle of water. This was more like walking into a global-sized pile of S. We are not on the staff of the White House. We are a coequal branch of government, and it is about time we acted like it. Saying nothing, or basically nothing, is unacceptable. We need to put our country before our political party. Calling other countries, and even a continent, names like s---holes or s---houses puts our servicemembers and our Americans overseas at greater risk.…”