Monday, January 08, 2007

That Ol Debil Work

From Drudge:

DEM VOW ALREADY BROKEN: HOUSE SETS 4-DAY WORK WEEK
Sun Jan 07 2007 15:03:38 ET

Democrats ran to expand the work week in the House to 5 days.

But guess how long that lasted?

Not even one week!

"Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week" front-paged the WASHINGTON POST in December.

Majority leader Steny Hoyer said members of the House will be expected in the Capitol for votes each week by 6:30 p.m. Monday and will finish their business about 2 p.m. Friday.

Explained the POST: "Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January."

But on the morning after the night before, on the first full week of the new congress, Hoyer has pulled back from his vow!

A Hoyer press release obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT boldly declares: "Monday, January 8, 2007: The House is not in session."

Hill sources claim The House is taking Monday 'off' this week, because of the championship football game between Ohio State and the University of Florida.

And, of course, the following Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

100 hours...starting...soon


I'd say this: The 5 day week was always unrealistic; can't be done, for members who are further away than about 2 hours travel time. Members have to spend time in the district, and have to be able to schedule a week day predictably. Monday makes good sense.

Now, Pelosi and co. knew this all along, and fibbed about it. But anyone who believed them was the one who was silly. And not for the last time. A lot of claims in December are going to be dead and buried by February. Just part of governing. Doesn't mean the Dems are liars. Pelosi will just say, "You know how I roll," and that will be that.

(Nod to Anonyman)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Contrary to an Internet report, Republicans in the House of Representatives appear to have asked for a day off less than one week into the 110th Congress, RAW STORY has learned. The Democratic leadership consented, and no action is scheduled on the House floor today.

Congress will not meet today to begin the official "100 hours" agenda of the Democratic Members due to a request put in to the Democratic Leadership by Rep. John Boehner, the Republican Minority Leader in the House of Representatives.

"Mr. Boehner made this request, and in the interest of comity, Democrats granted it," a senior Democratic aide told RAW STORY."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/GOP_seeks_gets_day_off_in_0108.html

Mungowitz said...

Okay....but next week, and the following week, the same thing will happen.

Pretending that members don't "Work" very much was foolish demogoguery. They have to get home to their district. I stand by my claim, which the commenter does not even address: you CAN'T have a five day week. Dems in Congress know this, and have known it all along.

They aren't doing anything wrong when they take Mondays at home in their districts. But they were doing something wrong when they criticized the Repubs for doing the same thing.

NOW, the corruption, the secret deals, and the partisan hubris....all THOSE things the Dems were right about.