Tennessee GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn wants to make sure we don't expand the definition of "emergency" to include trifling inconveniences that kill thousands of Americans or hundreds of thousands of people abroad:
Let's agree that we're going to have PAYGO enforcement. That we're not going to cry 'emergency' every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a tsunami, every time we have a need for extra spending, that we don't go call for a special appropriation that allows us to circumvent the PAYGO rules.
In related news, those with a taste for nostalgia can listen to the theme for the mid-70s TV show "Emergency!"--scored by Nelson Riddle, no less--here. It somehow seems an apt accompaniment for the current moment in GOP politics.
--Christopher Orr