Fourth-grader to bring vets bill to Congress

Matthew Prouty is no ordinary 9-year-old. Next week, he is planning to pay a visit to Capitol Hill from York, Maine, to deliver a bill to Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) concerning veterans benefits.

Michaud is not the boy’s congressman — Rep. Tom Allen (R-Maine) is — but the Prouty family says Michaud is far more receptive than Allen.

“Allen’s office never responded once,” said Matthew’s mom, Cindy, who spoke to ITK from the family home in York.

Allen’s office claimed to have no record of any contact with the Prouty family but reached out to them as a result of the ITK inquiry.

“Things sometimes happen like this,” says Allen spokesman Mark Sullivan, who assures that the congressman would love to meet with the boy and his family. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure it happens. We’re happy to do it.

“It’s great that the kids are taking this kind of interest in our veterans. Tom is certainly looking forward to sitting down and talking with the family, with whoever is in attendance.”

The issue at hand is significant, and so is the bill that Matthew plans to give to Michaud. Matthew’s father, Robert, is an Army veteran who contracted hepatitis C in 1976 through a blood transfusion. Now on the liver-transplant list, Robert faces a costly recovery because a missing limb is covered by health insurance but an organ is not.

The bill, crafted by Matthew’s fourth-grade class at Coastal Ridge Elementary School, addresses veterans rights. In addition, his 14-year-old sister will speak at the Million Vet March on Capitol Hill on April 14.

Matthew, who was out bike-riding just before the interview with ITK, is serious about politics. He wants to run for Congress someday, and currently serves as secretary of state of his class.

“I don’t know how to put it,” he says. “Like we’re learning all of the judicial legislative branches.”

And the bill? “It will be helping veterans of the armed services help to get the benefits that they’ve been promised.”

Matthew says he’s “really excited” to come to Washington: “I can’t wait to meet a real representative.” Matthew says that without government life would be “very unorganized.”

Matthew, who says he’s a Democrat, isn’t too fond of President Bush. “Well, to be honest, I’m not very impressed with him because we shouldn’t be having a war going on. We have been searching for Osama for about five years, I think.”

Matthew plans to dress for the occasion: “I am going to have to wear black pants, a very fancy white top and a tie because my mom likes me to dress up fancy.”

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) has arrived. Or so it seems.

This past weekend, the immigration-reform-wielding lawmaker showed up in the opening skit of “Saturday Night Live.”

SNL actor Jason Sudeikis, who was interviewed on a pretend news segment with a fake Anderson Cooper (CNN), played the congressman, stating, “If we don’t do something fast, one day we’re going to have to look our children in the eyes and say, ‘I’m sorry, Timmy, but you’re never, ever going to be able to wash dishes at a restaurant.”

Tancredo, who doesn’t watch the show regularly, heard about the skit the following morning.

“Congressman Tancredo thought the actor got the hair right and that’s about it,” said Tancredo spokesman Will Adams. “He thought it was pretty funny actually. I guess you’ve arrived once you’ve been parried in the lead item on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I’m sure his wife makes sure it doesn’t go to his head.”

From Sunday, April 30, to Thursday, May 4, Capitol Hill will be the site of a 90-hour marathon Bible reading. The event will culminate with the National Day of Prayer.

In its 17th year on Capitol Hill, the reading takes place at the West Front of the Capitol. The goal: to read the entire Bible aloud without commentary. The purpose: honor the Bible.

Sponsored by the People’s Church, a Protestant church on Capitol Hill, one of the event’s organizers, Terry Hall, wife of People’s Church pastor Michael Hall, says, “We’re not a big media event. It’s more of a private devotional.”

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have participated in years past and have included highly religious representatives such as Reps. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) and Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Bible readers make appointments to read, but when a lawmaker shows up, readers typically step out of the way. So far, Hall says, they have filled 80 hours of reading; the only remaining reading times are in the middle of the night.

To schedule a reading, call (202) 441-6455 or visit dcbiblemarathon.org.

Who knew that the Mafioso crime family on HBO was so political?

On this past weekend’s episode, Tony, during a session with his shrink, was voicing his conflicting views on homosexuality, after having learned that one of his captains is gay. Referring to Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Pa.) beliefs about homosexuality, he said, “I agree with Santorum that if we let them get married, then we’ll be [expletive] dogs.”

Tony’s wife, Carmella, announced that she had voted for President Bush, while the couple’s daughter, Meadow, declared herself a civil libertarian.

Harman’s “Homeland Holly” engaged

“Homeland” Holly Canevari, as she is known around the office of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), thanks to her expertise in all homeland security matters, got engaged this past weekend to her longtime boyfriend, who works on defense issues.

The couple were on a recent romantic weekend to St. Michaels, Md., when Canevari’s suitor dropped to one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. No date has been set, but they are eyeing the fall of 2007 to tie the knot.

“Clearly this union is a boost to the nation’s national security,” said Harman spokesman Tom Reynolds.

Smith aide gets engaged

Last Thursday, Brad Dayspring, 29, press secretary for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), proposed to his girlfriend of a year and a half, Jessica Armstrong, 25, a private investigator.

“Luckily for me, she was compelled to accept,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Shockingly, she didn’t even seem to have a moment of hesitation, proving that either I would have a very lucrative career in the acting field or that she may have had one two many glasses of wine over dinner.”

Either way, he added, he will do what he can so that she “sticks around before she comes to her senses.”

The couple plan to marry in the winter of 2007.

Indulge in a spa treatment

With Spa Week upon us this week, and many lawmakers out of Washington, now is the time to cast away your worries and sneak off to one of 15 participating D.C. spas.

Each treatment costs $50. Some of the spas include Serenity Day Spa, SomaFit, Modern Day Spa and Cassiana Day Spa. Treatments include such services as an anti-stress salt-glow body scrub or a lotus warm-stone massage.

For more details, visit www.spaweek.org.