Better gas mileage is ruining the economy

Well, Jim Sensenbrenner's certainly not one to follow the crowd. He has a mind of his own -- or half a mind, anyway.

The Journal Sentinel says Big Jim has figured out who's to blame: It's those darn Democrats!

Washington - As his Democratic colleagues blamed globalization for some of the problems facing the U.S. economy, Rep. James Sensenbrenner said Tuesday many of those problems are being exacerbated by Democratic tax and energy policies.

"This is not a question of outsourcing jobs to China, India or any foreign country," Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, said after attending a House hearing on American job losses in a new global economy. "It's a question of Congress advocating for policies that make it impossible to sell."

For instance, he said policies that have limited domestic oil production and increased the fuel economy standards in vehicles have hurt the economy.

He seems to have put his finger on it. Better gas mileage. That's what's wrecking the economy.

What planet does he represent again?

Skinflint Sensenbrenner stiffs House GOP

Roll Call, the Capitol Hill insider newspaper, reports:

House GOP leaders are privately grumbling about the level of fundraising and donating by some committees’ ranking members, suggesting that would-be chairmen should be steering more money to the party’s effort to retake the majority.

Hmmmm. Who could they be talking about?

Our guy, Jim Sensenbrenner, didn't accumulate his big campaign warchest or his personal fortune by throwing money around. He's a well-known cheapskate who never pays his own way if he can find someone else to buy the ticket or pick up the tab.

No surprise, then, that Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, hasn't given a nickel, according to the Indianapolis Star. Next lowest is Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, the top Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, who's given or raised $28,500.

Sensenbrenner's stamp collection equals Gwen Moore's net worth

Apparently tired of running the same story -- "Herb Kohl richest in Wisconsin delegation" -- every year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel instead decided to write that all Wisconsin members of Congress are better off than the average Wisconsinite.

They led with Gwen Moore, "the least wealthy member of Wisconsin's congressional delegation", saying correctly that her $170,000 salary and the pension she will receive makes her better off than her constituents:

Moore estimates her net worth is at least $110,000 - almost double the median household net worth in the country in 2002, the most recent census figures available.

The paper was so busy telling us how well off Moore is that you had to read the small print in a box next to the story to find this:

Jim Sensenbrenner owns a stamp collection worth $110,000.

His stamp collection equals her net worth. For some reason, Sensenbrenner's net worth didn't even make the story, although all of the others' did. The Center for Responsive Politics pegs it between $21-million and $31-million.