A freshman Republican lawmaker from Pennsylvania showed up in Washington this year and wasn’t happy with the “members only” signs he saw throughout the Capitol, and has introduced legislation to ban them entirely.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was elected for the first time in November, and is on a mission to reform the way Congress works. On his first day, he proposed bills to impose term limits on members, dock their pay if no budget is passed, end pensions for life for lawmakers, and other political reforms.
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He said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that he was “disgusted” by another element of the Capitol — areas that are off limits to the public.
“I was disgusted to find the ‘People’s House’ complex littered with signage with the sole purpose of separating members of Congress from the people they work for,” he said.
“Even little things like this highlight why too many Americans feel left out,” he added. “They see a system that does more to preserve the status quo than it does solving our most pressing challenges, and a class of career politicians and elite insiders who see themselves as a separate class than their constituents.”
“That mindset needs to stop – and I will do anything I can to end it,” Fitzpatrick said.
His resolution would ban any signs that say “members only” in the House wing of the Capitol or any House office building. Any existing signs would have to be removed immediately.
Read his resolution here:
