The insulting agenda of Congress

Here's proof Washington politicians don't give a darn about our problems, and assume we're dumb enough to swallow whatever they serve up.

After a seaside vacation at the ritzy Alpemare Beach Club in Tuscany, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has returned to the nation's capital to roll out more episodes of the House's Jan. 6 Committee televised miniseries this Tuesday and Thursday.

Pelosi's head must still be stuck in the Tuscan sand.

How else could she think Americans want to watch a scripted, partisan docudrama produced at their expense about something that happened 18 months ago? The public wants Congress to solve their most painful problem: soaring food, gas and electric prices.

Pelosi doesn't feel that pain. She was dining on entrees at Alpemare that cost up to $150 a plate, while Americans back home were picking through the meat counters at their supermarket looking for affordable options. The cost of a summer barbecue is up 17% over last year for burgers, hot dogs and other humble fare. Forget steak.

Forget driving to the seashore or a lake for a swim. Not with today's gas prices.

And forget turning on your air conditioner to get a good night's sleep. Electric bills are skyrocketing. In the metro New York area, Con Edison is asking for double-digit rate hikes. New Hampshire residents are already paying $70 a month more than last year. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission warns rates in some areas of the country could soar 233% during this summer's heat waves.

That's why only a minuscule 14% of the public says the country is moving in the right direction, according to an Associated Press poll last week. Even people with good jobs can't afford simple pleasures.

Where are our political leaders? On Sunday, they were on news shows hyping the Jan. 6 "hearings" airing this week.

They want you to believe that they're uncovering the truth about Jan. 6, 2021, in order to safeguard democracy. But, again, they're playing us for stupid.

The first seven episodes in their miniseries, including Tuesday's, were scripted to tell a predetermined story. The "witnesses" were interviewed behind closed doors and videotaped. Then the committee took only snippets of testimony that support its propaganda and allowed you to hear it.

On Monday, a committee aide was anonymously quoted in the Washington Post, saying, "We will show how some of these right-wing extremist groups who came to D.C. and led the attack on the Capital had ties to Trump associates." But Tuesday's hearing didn't show that because the witnesses were not cross-examined.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who is sitting in jail, volunteered to testify live so his statements could not be selectively edited. But the committee so far is unwilling because it won't risk a witness who might contradict its predetermined findings. Instead, on Tuesday, the committee hosted former Oath Keeper Jason Van Tatenhove, who hasn't been part of the group since 2018. He's not a witness so much as a prop.

Similarly, no one cross-examined Cassidy Hutchinson to test her sensational claim that Donald Trump grabbed the steering wheel of the Secret Service limousine to turn toward the Capitol. Why not?

Because the committee is one-sided. The nine members, all hand-picked by Pelosi, include Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the face of the first Trump impeachment, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), manager of the second impeachment proceeding against Trump, as well as Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Il.), two Republicans who voted twice to impeach Trump.

Why would anyone watch this unapologetically rigged process about a topic that pales in comparison to watching your quality of life and future plans destroyed by soaring prices?

Americans under 50 have not lived through inflation and the fear it instills. But President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both in their 70s, and Pelosi, now in her 80s, were already in power when inflation struck during the Carter years.

They know the truth -- the pain of inflation. Shame on them for trying to distract from it with made-for-television propaganda.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths.