Lawmaker says Congress is like Thanksgiving dinner with dysfunctional family

Freshman Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said Monday that Congress has failed to avoid the pending $85 billion sequester because it's as cooperative as a dysfunctional family at a ruined Thanksgiving dinner.

"Anyone with a dysfunctional family can tell you that Thanksgiving dinners can quickly melt down into shouting matches between family members blaming one another for bad things that have happened," he said. "I can tell you politics on Capitol Hill are a lot like eating Thanksgiving dinner with a dysfunctional family every single day."

Mullin said that a more functional Congress could sit down and examine what parts of certain programs could be cut and which should be spared. But he said no one is brave enough.

"Nobody has had the backbone to closely examine which programs are working and which are wasteful so we can responsibly cut spending," he said. "Instead, those in Washington are unwilling to make tough decisions so their answer is to cut everyone in an effort to seem fair. That is not good government."

Mullin was referring to the Obama administration's decision to furlough hundreds of thousands of government workers in order to cut the required $85 billion in spending this year under the sequester. Many Republicans have argued that the furlough decision is a sign that the administration has made no effort to find smarter cuts.

But Mullin indicated that the blame lies on both sides for the cut that will take place Friday unless some alternative agreement is reached.

"It is time politicians quit looking toward their next election and stopped the dysfunction," he said. "We would not be facing sequestration if there was true leadership on both sides of the aisle in Washington. All else hasn't failed — leadership has failed to stop the shouting and start trying."

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