5 Day Work Week UNFAIR!!!
The Democrats in Congress plan to do the people’s work, including
adequate oversight of the Executive Branch. This means that Congress
will be session 5 days a week from Monday afternoon to Friday morning.
Under my timekeeping, that’s technically only 4 days of work, but it
sure beats what the GOP Congress has done. This year, the GOP
Congress met only 103 days, and the federal government is STILL being
run by a "continuing resolution" (i.e. "do what you did last year,
minus the earmarks") and will be run by one until at least February
15. These jokers have met fewer days than the infamous "do nothing"
Congress of 1947-48.
All this "work" by the GOP earns them
$165,000 a year, official junkets, and lobbyists slobbering all over
them to give them free stuff. They only met from late Tuesday
afternoon to midday Thursday….if they met at all. For most of us,
holidays mean an extra day off work. Not so for Congress. One day for
mere citizens equates to at least a week for Congress. The Democrats,
rightly, are putting a stop to it. And the GOP isn’t happy.
Jack
Kingston (R-Savannah) seems to have been nominated to be official
whiner for the GOP caucus. In a fit of hysteria, Kingston told the
Washington Post, "Keeping us
up here eats away at families. Marriages suffer. The Democrats could
care less about families — that’s what this says."
Yes, that’s
exactly what this says. Democrats are elected to public office, and
they have the audicity to believe that they should put in an honest
work week on behalf of the people who elected them. Mind you, Kingston
is a guy who sleeps in his damn office to show how "fiscally
conservative" he is. Many Congresspeople share living quarters to cut
down expenses. Senators usually move their families since their terms
are 6 years. Of course, many Congressmen do too.
It’s Jack
Kingston’s problem if his wife refuses to leave the confines of the
greater Savannah area. You would think that after 14 years in
Congress, they would have discussed living arrangements that would look
after the well-being of their family. Apparently, since 12 of those
years were spent with the GOP in control, ol’ Jack didn’t have to worry
about it since he only had to show up for a day and a half in DC.
I
have no idea how our fragile Republic survived all those years before
the advent of air travel, telephone, and the internet. Why, a
Congressman would have to stay in town for an entire session, staying
in touch only through snail mail! The HORROR! Of course, back then,
our government was less complex and only needed to meet maybe 6 months
every two years. Congress is a full time legislature, and it needs to
be full time. If you don’t like that, then don’t run. If Jack can’t
hack the new schedule, he can feel free to resign so that someone who
is willing to work for people of GA-1 can actually elect someone who
will gladly do the work he/she asked to do.
Kingston wrote
in today’s AJC that "last year I hosted 25 town hall meetings
regarding Medicare Part D. The year before that, I held 17 town hall
meetings on Social Security. In addition, I made over 200 speeches and
meetings with veteran groups, farmers, energy, tax, health care,
education and environmental groups. And I met with many individuals who
had problems with the federal government — people who don’t have
business cards and don’t know doctors and lawyers personally. These are
the people who don’t have the lobbyists, the time, or the budgets that
would allow them to come to Washington and meet with me." Wow, he had
meetings in his district 25 times in a calendar year! That’s every
other weekend. I don’t know where he gets the energy to keep up that
schedule!
Being a Representative or Senator to Congress is not
supposed to be easy. If you have to spend your workweek in DC and
commute home on the weekends, so be it. And if you truly care about
your district, you will find ways to stay in touch and not lose the
pulse of the people.
Jack Kingston and his GOP whiners don’t understand that.
