Rep. Donna Edwards Turns to the White Stripes on Budget Negotiations

By no means a stranger to making a splash on the floor of the US House, Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards (who represents a swath of Montgomery and Prince George's counties) used her allotted speech time Friday to offer an emphatic appeal to her Republican colleagues to avert a government shutdown. How was that different than anything other Democrats have been saying for the past several days? Instead of using her own words, Edwards turned to those of Jack White, singer of the now defunct rock band the White Stripes. In the clip below, watch as Edwards quotes from the White Stripes' 2007 song, "Effect and Cause."

For the record, below are the lyrics Edwards read on the House floor (she paraphrases a little):

I guess you have to have a problem
If you want to invent a contraption
First you cause a train wreck
Then you put me in traction

Well, first came an action
And then a reaction
But you can't switch around
For your own satisfaction
You burned my house down, then got mad at my reaction
It's just that you can't take the effect
And make it the cause