2014: 5 Ways the Congress screwed THE MIDDLE CLASS over

5. Taxpayers Just Spent $2 Billion on Military Equipment the Pentagon Didn’t Ask For The F35 Does not work but they put more money into this turkey of a plane.

4. Congress Stopped Even Pretending to Care About Our TroopsOn December 12th, retiring (REPUBLICAN) Senator Tom Coburn did something truly unbelievable: he vetoed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act.

3. School Lunches Just Got A Whole Lot More Unhealthy

2. The Kline-Miller Amendment, AKA the “Screw Your Pensions Act”

This amendment was snuck into the giant CRomnibus bill with little fanfare and even less mainstream media attention. It will probably come as a surprise to most of you to hear, but if you are one of the nearly 10 million Americans who is part of a multi-employer pension plan, the House of Representatives may have put your retirement funds in serious jeopardy. The amendment would allow trustees of multi-employer pension plans in distress to make discretionary cuts of as much of 60%. Yep, that’s right. Even more worrisome is the complete immunity to any legal action or court arbitration the amendment provides for trustees should they choose to make these cuts.

1. Allowing More Big Money Into the Political System

You may remember from this one from 5 Awful Things Congress Snuck Into the Omnibus Budget Deal post from last month, but I think it’s worth revisiting because the influence of money on our political system is at the heart of every other issue on this list. As if there wasn’t enough money in the system already, Congress decided to use their authority to increase the amount of money individuals can give to political parties.