Congressional taunting

A new study of the communication patterns of Congress members finds that 27 percent of Congress' time is spent taunting.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate had been in session only a few minutes before the first exchange of barbed words.

“Democrats are more concerned about the politics of the debate than keeping the government running,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a floor speech. “They can’t blame anyone but themselves if a shutdown does occur.”

A while later, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) came out to speak. He had a few choice things to say about Republicans’ plans for cuts to the federal budget.

“The more the American people take a hard look at where [Republicans] want this country to go, the more outraged will be millions and millions of citizens,” Sanders said.

To which, McConnell later presumably replied, "The good gentleman's mother was a hamster and his father smelled of elderberries!"