Sure, the economy’s going to hell in the proverbial hand basket and oil is still spewing up from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico and Iran’s about to get nuclear weapons, but the Congress of the United States is spending its time on more important issues. Like potty parity in federal buildings.
Fox News has the details (and please note the remarkable pun in the opening sentence):
Men may still be left holding their peanuts at the ballpark while waiting for their dates in the ladies room, but a House panel on Wednesday was considering whether to rectify the disparity in wait times for the loo in federal buildings.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings Wednesday on the “Potty Parity Act,” a bill that seeks to address the unequal number of restroom facilities for women in federal buildings by requiring at least a 1-to-1 ratio for toilets, including urinals, in women’s and men’s restrooms.
Supporters of the bill say women forced to wait in long restroom lines are at risk of health issues, including abdominal pain, cystitis and other urinary tract infections.
“A lot of times people, when I dealt with this bill, called it ‘potty parity.’ They made jokes,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who proposed similar legislation as a state lawmaker that was enacted in the 1990s.
“The fact is, it’s not a joke. Not only is it not a joke to women, it’s not a joke to men who go with the women who have to wait while they’re standing in line,” he said. “It’s also politically very popular. It’s the right thing to do and it’s catching up with the cultural lag in our society.”
Far be it from us to criticize the House of Representatives and its noble work, but with all the other crises going on in the world, it seems to us that this is the ultimate example of congress getting a little behind in its work.
Source: Fox News
