By: Sönke Pietsch

In today’s political climate, color has become somewhat of a decisive topic and has become more than a tool to add spice to our periodically dull lives. Affiliating oneself with one shade of this or one tone of that can jeopardize one’s well deserved fame, success or even ruin any future chances of political success. In the United States House of Representatives, delegates have cashed in on this idea and have reflected their choices in the naming of their working papers. 

True to their party, democratic delegates have sided with their counterparts in Congress by throwing themselves into an ocean of blue while Republicans have chosen to delve into a pool of red. In the name of passing the bill in conjugation with the United States Senate and with the President’s support, delegates have chosen to work with their partners across the aisle to ensure that at least the 50% majority vote is reached. As a result, the working paper addressing the imminent crisis in North Carolina, has accurately been called “Purple”, the result of mixing blue and red. 

Armed with instructions from the POTUS to include funding for a border wall in any resolution, these representatives have turned to creativity to guarantee that the proposed bill can securely pass the House by not dipping too far into any blue or red territory. Representative Clark from Massachusetts fifth district said that “whether you are red or blue, the purple bill is a green solution for all”, expressing her support for the bill. 

Other representatives such as Thomas Massie (Republican) from Kentucky's fourth district, have chosen a different strategy and chose to pick up certain clauses of the proposed bill “Purple”. The plan of these delegates is to pass these independently of the whole bill. In doing so, the representative would like to repurpose 40 Billion Dollars of the Department of Energy’s excessive budget and allocate it towards the proposed Emergency relief fund. While the money used for this idea maybe as green as can be and the paper is based off of the bill “Purple”, it is clear that this paper is just a washed out purple.