A Republican congressman from Iowa drew the ire of Washington, D.C., residents after sending out a tweet critical of spending in the city, advocating for an economic downturn in the nation’s capital.
Rep. Rod Blum said in the tweet spending projects in D.C. are coming at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Accompanying the tweet is a picture of the skyline in Southwest D.C. populated by several construction cranes.
Blum’s wish for economic collapse in the capital of the U.S. drew swift rebukes on Twitter, with people asking the congressman if he was on drugs. Users also pointed out the cranes photographed all belong to the same project: a $2 billion project called The Wharf to build apartments, condominiums and 1 million square feet of retail and commercial space. The funding for the project stems primarily from private investment, and the only taxpayers on the hook for The Wharf are D.C. residents, reports The Washingtonian.
This is not the first time Blum called for an economic downturn in the city. Just a week after Jeb Bush said during his presidential campaign he would “create a little bit of a recession in Washington, DC, so that we can have economic prosperity outside of Washington” in October, Blum tweeted a similar picture of cranes working on The Wharf project with a tweet advocating the need to cause a recession in the city.
Angered residents responded similarly to Blum’s October tweet, asking where the sense was in wishing economic calamity on citizens who do not even have their own representation in Congress.
In her State of the District address Tuesday Mayor Muriel Bowser said D.C. is in a strong position, using the visual of cranes as an example of the city’s economic progress.
“Right now, when you look across the District, we have projects in all 8 wards that will lead to 32,000 new jobs,” Bowser said in her address. “While some may see cranes in the air, I see 32,000 pathways to the middle class in the near future.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.