It’s not a doomsday clock or a pedometer, though it’s been confused for both.
The copper-cased ticker affixed to Rep. Thomas Massie’s lapel is a debt clock, tracking the country’s debt in real time using a complicated algorithm of the Kentucky Republican’s design — and raising eyebrows in the process.
Since Massie, who has voiced reservations about hiking the debt ceiling, debuted the device in late January, he’s worn it around the halls of Congress, to votes and at an event in his home district. It’s been the subject of dozens of tweets and a handful of news stories. On Tuesday, Massie will don the provocative accessory at the State of the Union address.
