Congressman Wants Michelle Obama To Shut Up And Look Pretty
LatestCalifornia Congressman Darrell Issa (need I say he’s a Republican?) has introduced a bill to restore honor to the White House by prohibiting Michelle Obama from doing any substantive work.
Issa’s bill is required because, according to a 1993 federal appeals court ruling when a bunch of conservatives sued the Clinton Administration over Hillary Clinton’s health care task force. Republicans had sued claiming that Hillary’s participation in the White House Health Care Task Force — since she wasn’t a federal employee — made the group an outside advisory panel to which federal laws requiring that its meetings be public and announced ages in advance applied. The appeals court ruled that the First Lady was functionally a government employee, meaning that she could participate in policy discussions and debates like any other member of the Administration without complying with the onerous requirements on outside advisory groups designed to limit the ability of lobbyists and special interests to influence policy.