Why a Frustrated Democrat Wants a Swimming Pool in Darrell Issa’s Committee Room

Congressman Cardenas(WASHINGTON) — A frustrated California congressman is calling for a swimming pool to be installed in the chambers of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — to facilitate a medieval litmus test.

In a statement caked thick with sarcasm, Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., called on the committee’s Republican chairman, Darrell Issa, to “install an above-ground pool” to aid the GOP chairman’s investigations into a wide range of controversies.

“We are picking winners and losers, when it is clearly obvious that witches can only be found by dunking them in water,” Cardenas wrote. “If they float they’re a witch. If they don’t, installing a pool will allow us to retrieve the non-witch before he or she drowns.”

The committee voted Friday to reject White House assertions of “absolute immunity” of David Simas, a senior adviser to President Obama and the director of the new White House Office of Political Strategy, who has refused to testify voluntarily or under subpoena at the committee.

“Like the Chairman, I am interested in effective government oversight and reform,” Cardenas continued. “This pool will allow that to take place, wasting far fewer taxpayer dollars in the process.”

But Cardenas’ proposal — however tongue-in-cheek it is — would be duplicative. Lawmakers already enjoy access to a swimming pool in the lawmakers-only gym in the Rayburn House Office Building, where the committee room is located.

Asked to comment on the pool proposal, multiple aides to Issa refused to directly address Cardenas’ idea.

Cardenas joked that the committee’s prospective pool could be named the “Senator Joseph R. McCarthy Memorial Truth Pond,” and proposed installing a plaque quoting former head counsel for the U.S. Army, Joseph N. Welch, who asked McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

Concluding his statement, Cardenas pledged to make the pool available “for staff and member recreation” when the committee is not holding hearings in order “to avoid excessive government waste.”

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