Have you ever had one of those experiences where the day’s events were just so exceedingly bizarre that you felt as though you had somehow been sucked into an episode of the Twilight Zone?? I have to believe that after Wednesday’s House Budget Committee hearing, Sister Simone Campbell probably felt as though she had just had one of those experiences.
If you are a person that has been somewhat out-of-touch with the political world for the last few years, you may not have heard of Sister Simone or the Nuns on the Bus tour that started last year. Sister Simone is a very well-known and well-educated woman in the political world who also happens to be a nun. She is an attorney, a religious leader, and has served as Executive Director of NETWORK since 2004. She is also a lobbyist and educator of public policy issues, and a well-respected speaker for issues of peace building, immigration reform, health care, and economic justice. She is often called upon to offer testimony from her experiences working with people in poverty.
Despite Sister Simone’s unusual life experience and credentials, Republicans on the committee did not question her testimony. Instead, they questioned her personal credentials and morals as a nun. As if that were not enough, they then proceeded to put the blame of poverty on Sister. Simone and the Catholic Church. Former VP candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI) serves as Chairman of the committee. At one point, toward the end of the hearing, he finally jumped in and defended Sister Simone and her credentials as if she were his best friend. If you know the history between those two, you know you are in the Twilight Zone when Paul Ryan comes out looking like the good guy.
Sister Simone never tried to highlight the fact that she is a nun other than to say in the introduction to her testimony that the committee may recognize her from Nuns on the Bus. Instead, she spoke in her testimony about the minimum wage being set too low, how the implementation of ObamaCare is helping, how SNAP is a supplemental program and not a substitute for a living wage, and a few other things that Republicans seem to think are ruining this country. Republicans apparently saw that as a threat and decided to ignore all other testimony and “attack the nun.”
Things began to unravel almost immediately when Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) thanked Sister Simone for her appearance before the committee for bringing the “faith side” into the discussion. She hadn’t spoken of anything about religion or faith. From there, he proceeded to explain to her the story of Genesis, specifically the Garden of Eden and how Adam and Eve were expelled and were unable to work. Sr. Simone was hardly amused at the fact that he had no point, and had completely dismissed her testimony. He then addressed a legal question to Secretary Eloise Anderson, of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, who responded that she was not a Constitutional expert and said to Garrett, “I believe that is your job.” Sister Simone, who IS a practicing attorney, interjected and responded fully to answer his question. Garrett then chuckled with a look of bemused condensation, “Oh, I think we’ll have to disagree.”
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) was much more direct in his questioning of Sister Simone. Ribble, who was originally schooled to be a Baptist minister, inexplicably felt it necessary to run though a list of his families religious credentials. Ribble has some very notorious views concerning Obamacare, Agriculture, Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. So notorious in fact that he has been given very low ratings by The Children’s Health Fund and the American Nurses Association. Ribble, a member of the Liberty Caucus, does not believe that the government should be wasting money on programs that he believes are “costly and dysfunctional.” As if to say the government should not be involved in any welfare programs and it is the responsibility of religious organizations, he asked Sister. Simone, “What is the Church doing wrong?”
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) followed Ribble’s example in her questioning. Blackburn, who still believes in “death panels,” was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress in 2008 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). After wanting to know how much more money Sister Simone wanted, “When is enough, enough,” she then went on to question the morals and ethics of Sister Simone, and her credibility as a Catholic nun. At that point, Chairman Ryan, who has a very animus history with Sr. Simone, jumped in to defend the nun against a member of his own party. Ryan personally vouched for her “as a Catholic.”
It didn’t take too long into the hearing before Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) used his time to fire back at Republicans on the Committee. He Stated: “This hearing is surreal. It ought to be about jobs. We are not living in the real?world.?Nobody here has to make a decision about whether you feed your kids or not.”
Indeed!? As the distinguished gentleman from Washington pointed out, not one of the witnesses or committee members has been a “Witness to hunger” in this economy. Melissa Harris-Perry noted the circumstances on her show Saturday in her “Open Letter” to Paul Ryan. Tianna Gaines-Turner was to offer testimony as a “Witness to hunger” by invitation of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), but Ryan forbid her testimony as a witness. He did however allow Lee to enter in the written testimony of Tianna Gaines-Turner into the record. Since the Republicans seemed to take issue with Sr. Simone on the basis of religion, even though she was there for her professional expertise and not her religious background, I am reminded of a passage they seem to have overlooked and forgotten.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 49. ?Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50. ?They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
You would think with all of their concerns over religion they might have remembered that one. Perhaps the poverty of American people distracted their thoughts. The poverty that can be blamed on Sister Simone Campbell, a nun who has devoted her life to serving the disadvantaged. You can see a full recording of the House Budget Committee hearing here.
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Edited/Published by CB
