Posted by
arandomguy on Sunday, January 07, 2007 10:56:03 PM
Among the promises made by Democrats, both before and after the 2006 elections, was a promise to increase the Congressional work week from 4 days to 5, meeting at 6:30 pm Monday night, and being finished with its weekly business by 2:00 pm Friday afternoon (though as any average American can tell you, this is far from a full week of work).
Steny Hoyer, House majority leader, claimed that all members of the US House would be expected to attend sessions 5 days a week. Yet in the plan released earlier this weekend, outlining the schedule for the Democratic controlled House's first full week in session, boldy claims that Monday, "The House is not in session."
Capitol sources claim that the House is taking Monday off because of the championship football game between Ohio State and the University of Florida. This to me, seems just a bit ridiculous. Representatives come from all over, not just Florida and Ohio. While I'm anxious to watch the game, and I'm sure it will be a good one, this doesn't mean that I expect my elected representatives to take an entire day off to watch a college football game.
I could even perhaps understand giving Ohio and Florida representatives the day off. Yet the entire house? Is this really a legitimate reason to stop government? Even for one day? I doubt it. The Democrats promised to clean up Washington, and to make the government more responsive to the people. Whether they can do it or not remains to be seen, but they are not starting out good.
The "5 day work week" which amounts to little more than 3 average days of work (24 - 26 hours) has already been proven a farce. Next week is Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so Congress will not be in session again (this is actually a legitimate excuse).
So when exactly are they going to start getting all this stuff they planned done?
Never.