Republicans in Congress simply refuse to learn the rules of the game: If you want to get something done, behave as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) does. Against the old axiom, there is actually a union among thieves in the Democratic party, and San Fran Nan is the head of the snake.

Pelosi just procured $200 million to improve a park near her home as part of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill currently being debated on Capitol Hill. One sycophantic Democrat representative claimed – laughably – that the house speaker deserves it.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) defended the allocation for the Presidio, the 1,500-acre park and golf course near the Golden Gate Bridge, claiming Pelosi deserves the money for her hometown because of the hard work she undertakes as speaker, The Washington Times reported.

Cohen has represented Tennessee’s 9th congressional district since 2007. The district includes the western three-fourths of Memphis. Cohen is Tennessee’s first Jewish congressman.

“Speaker Pelosi gets maybe a little bit more, and some of the leaders get a little bit more on some of these bills,” the congressman admitted.

“If it weren’t for her working 24/7, and she does, to keep this place going, we wouldn’t be going. She does more for America than any other member, I would submit in this Congress, times 10. So I support the proposal,” he said.

GOP lawmakers tried without success to divert the $200 million to other areas of need, but again they had to learn the lesson of wielding power when you have it – something Democrats excel at as Republicans pound their fists on the lectern in futility.

They argued that there were far more pressing needs for parks and public lands funding than the historic park located on prime real estate on the San Francisco peninsula.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) said Democrat Cohen’s remarks were revealing.

“It fully takes the mask off what this is all about,” Tiffany told the Times. “This is a Pelosi payoff. This is where somebody puts themselves before their office.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) also opposed the Presidio plan, proposing instead that the park upgrades be allocated just one dollar.

Americans’ tax dollars are are not Pelosi’s personal piggy bank! pic.twitter.com/I7TOC4RBFL

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) September 9, 2021

“Just because she is speaker doesn’t mean she gets to bloat this bill,” Boebert told the Times. “This is an obvious giveaway to Speaker Pelosi and the powerful elites in San Francisco that support her, and the U.S. taxpayer gets stuck with the bill.”

Rep. Bruce Westerman, (R-AR) noted that members of the Presidio Trust, which oversees the San Francisco park, had contributed nearly $19 million to Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, including $1 million in June, the outlet said.

“Now here we are in September with a $200 million gift back to the Presidio Trust,” he said.

“I know the taxpayers in my district don’t want to fund Nancy Pelosi’s golf course,” Westerman told the outlet, adding, “They don’t want their taxpayer dollars going to fund a piece of real estate in one of the most wealthy parts of the country.”

Displayed behind Westerman was a poster of Pelosi, who lives near the Presidio in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood, with a quote of her saying, “I’m a regular at the Presidio. It’s just so beautiful to walk and see the bridge and then walk back and see the city.”

“I often feel sorry for my colleagues when I come home and think: They don’t have Chinatown. They don’t have the Mission. They … don’t have the diversity that is so strengthening and inspiring and just beautiful to behold,” the speaker told the Nob Hill Gazette.

Her admiration for Chinatown is well documented, most fondly at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, Arizona Democrat and the panel chairman, countered that the Presidio, formerly an Army installation, was also part of the National Park Service and had maintenance needs like any other park does.

“Like everywhere else, the pandemic of the last year-plus has affected that with deep reductions in revenue, and the organization needs support and a lifeline,” he said. “Like all national parks, the Presidio has deferred maintenance. It is, after all, a 19th-century Army fort. We’ve invested in addressing those and the focus of deferred maintenance doesn’t have to postpone other priorities.”

“Committee Democrats have prioritized community ecosystems and federal employees in our effort to address the wildfire crisis. This subtitle already invests $1 billion for wildfire management, including federal and tribal wild land firefighters … At the same time, I believe we can support the Presidio as part of our shared heritage and history.

He added that the “Presidio itself is home to many sites that honor our veterans.”

Rep. Garret Graves, (R-LA) stood unconvinced, calling the allocation “a gift for the speaker” and noting that “there are very few veterans in that area because they can’t afford to live there.”

“So let’s make recreational opportunities for all Americans, not just Speaker Pelosi’s constituents,” said Graves.

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Frank Webster

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Frank (Chip) Webster is a musician and composer, former teacher of percussion and U.S. Army Infantry veteran. He holds a degree in English from Arizona State University.

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