Starving Congressmen

This should have been a reality show. Call up that guy from "30 Days" and make it happen!

FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE
Pangs of Hunger -- and Bit of Guilt

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 22, 2007; Page A13

A pork chop and a bag of peanuts proved too tempting for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of four members of Congress who has struggled for the past week to subsist on $21 worth of food -- the equivalent of benefits received by the average food stamp recipient.

Last Friday night, in New Hampshire to deliver a commencement speech, Ryan succumbed to a pork chop in the hotel restaurant because he feared he would otherwise be too weak to give the address.

Afterward, as he rushed to catch a flight back to Washington, airport security officials confiscated jars of peanut butter and jelly from his carry-on luggage, leaving him with nothing but a small bag of cornmeal to eat in the final days of the "Food Stamp Challenge," which ends today.

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...another story from the Boston Globe. nice to know a congressional staffer has a sense of humor when it comes to the homeless, that's an important thing to maintain in this day and age.

Walking home from his office at 9:30, he ran into several colleagues sitting out at sidewalk cafes. Would he join them, several asked. He wanted to, but declined. One friend jokingly inquired whether he would be sleeping on a grate that night.