Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week
The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, December 6, 2006 | Lyndsey Layton

Posted on 12/05/2006 10:47:03 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

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.

The horror.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who will become House majority leader and is writing the schedule for the next Congress, said members should expect longer hours than the brief week they have grown accustomed to.

"I have bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you had planned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day in January, starting with the 4th."

The reporters groaned. "I know, it's awful, isn't it?" Hoyer empathized.

For lawmakers, it is awful, compared with what they have come to expect. For much of this election year, the legislative week started late Tuesday and ended by Thursday afternoon -- and that was during the relatively few weeks the House wasn't in recess.

Next year, 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, Hoyer said.

With the new calendar, the Democrats are trying to project a businesslike image when they take control of Congress in January. House and Senate Democratic leaders have announced an ambitious agenda for their first 100 hours and say they are adamant about scoring legislative victories they can trumpet in the 2008 campaigns.

Hoyer and other Democratic leaders say they are trying to repair the image of Congress, which was so anemic this year it could not meet a basic duty: to approve spending bills that fund government. By the time the gavel comes down on the 109th Congress on Friday, members will have worked a total of 103 days.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2007; capitolhill; congress; democrats
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-107 next last
To: MinorityRepublican
With the new calendar, the Democrats are trying to project a businesslike image when they take control of Congress in January. House and Senate Democratic leaders have announced an ambitious agenda for their first 100 hours and say they are adamant about scoring legislative victories they can trumpet in the 2008 campaigns.

BS .. this is an attempt to pass their agenda .. if our side has other plans and aren't there to vote down stupid laws .. the Dems win

Plus it cuts into fund raising and campaign time for reelections and candidates

61 posted on 12/06/2006 5:33:27 AM PST by Mo1 (Thank You Mr & Mrs "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" Voter ... you just screwed us on so many levels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: California Patriot

When the Republicans come back into power, can we stop pandering to the laziness of the fat old men of the Republican Party and put in the young go-getters?


62 posted on 12/06/2006 5:34:02 AM PST by Democratshavenobrains
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Will_Zurmacht

Nice screen name


63 posted on 12/06/2006 5:36:37 AM PST by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit (War is Peace__Freedom is Slavery__Ignorance is Strength)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: decal

Look more closely. If they really will work 5 days per week, then what will they be doing? Really, how much time does it take to cast votes? What will happen is that either the CSpan speeches will be even more endless, or...

...or Mondays and Fridays will be full of investigative hearings.


64 posted on 12/06/2006 5:37:30 AM PST by AmishDude (I coined "Senator Ass" to describe Jim Webb. He may have already used it as a character in a novel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: AD from SpringBay

Good point. Look for the pay raise in the first 100 hours. If Dem governors have taught me anything, put tax hikes and pay raises as early in the term as possible.


65 posted on 12/06/2006 5:39:39 AM PST by AmishDude (I coined "Senator Ass" to describe Jim Webb. He may have already used it as a character in a novel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Mo1

Exactly, Mo1! This isn't about being businesslike. It's all about controlling the agenda, keeping the Republicans off balance and unable to campaign, and PR for the masses.


66 posted on 12/06/2006 5:41:01 AM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, thank you for Mozart Lover's son's safe return, and look after Jemian's son, please!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Leisler

A lot of people who "miss" Reagan don't remember Reagan. It wasn't all sunshine and puppies in the 80s. We remember the best of times.


67 posted on 12/06/2006 5:48:31 AM PST by AmishDude (I coined "Senator Ass" to describe Jim Webb. He may have already used it as a character in a novel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Miss Marple
I will bet cash money that Hoyer has worked out a schedule where Rat Congressmen will be allowed to go home on a rotating schedule.

What the GOP needs is a plan for when that happens, in order to pounce when they have the votes for anything. There are a lot of Republican proposals which would pass the full House if brought for a vote. Pick one and plan to ram it through if possible. Disband committees. Act on ethics charges. Whatever it takes. All it would take is one headline "House in Disarray" to end the whole enterprise.

68 posted on 12/06/2006 5:51:48 AM PST by AmishDude (I coined "Senator Ass" to describe Jim Webb. He may have already used it as a character in a novel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Mo1

I'm with those who tend to believe that the less they do, the better off we are.


69 posted on 12/06/2006 5:51:58 AM PST by Bahbah (Regev, Goldwasser and Shalit, we are praying for you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Brett66
I see, they wish to do the maximum amount of damage in the shortest amount of time.

Bingo, they've got two years to totally destroy this country...so they need to put in a few extra hours a week to get it done.

70 posted on 12/06/2006 5:52:27 AM PST by OBXWanderer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Miss Marple
This isn't about being businesslike. It's all about controlling the agenda, keeping the Republicans off balance and unable to campaign, and PR for the masses.

Yep .. and our side best get their act together and learn to play hardball or they will not regain control back for a very long time

They don't have to get in the gutter with the Dems .. but they need to learn street politics .. learn how to debate better and know how to work around the Dems games

71 posted on 12/06/2006 5:52:41 AM PST by Mo1 (Thank You Mr & Mrs "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" Voter ... you just screwed us on so many levels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Bahbah

I agree with that .. but that's not what the Dems plan on doing


72 posted on 12/06/2006 5:55:54 AM PST by Mo1 (Thank You Mr & Mrs "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" Voter ... you just screwed us on so many levels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Mo1
that's not what the Dems plan on doing

Nope, it isn't. Be afraid.

73 posted on 12/06/2006 5:57:29 AM PST by Bahbah (Regev, Goldwasser and Shalit, we are praying for you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

With congress working five days a week, I expect lots of this -

"...He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance..."


74 posted on 12/06/2006 5:57:32 AM PST by sergeantdave (Consider that nearly half the people you pass on the street meet Lenin's definition of useful idiot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AmishDude
Agree, but Reagan moved the ball.

He, in a phrase, "took it to'em". He was on offense, and with a Democrat Congress, Tip O'Neil, Democrats controlling most governorships and legislators. Very little talk radio and almost zero Internet.

At best, especially the older Republicans, are time serving, perk grabbing hacks. At best. In truth they are liars and entrenched politicos. Anyone who believes them has reality perception problems.
75 posted on 12/06/2006 5:57:37 AM PST by Leisler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican
"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

I'm sure that he is, even as I write, drafting a bill to make the three-day work week standard for Americans generally, lest the nation's families suffer. [/SARCASM]

What a pathetic whiner!

76 posted on 12/06/2006 5:57:42 AM PST by steve-b (It's hard to be religious when certain people don't get struck by lightning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: California Patriot
As "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" observed 100 years ago: "A reformer can't last in politics. He can make a show for a while, but he always comes down like a rocket."

Well, then, that's another reason we need term limits -- it replenishes the supply of fresh reformers.

77 posted on 12/06/2006 5:59:32 AM PST by steve-b (It's hard to be religious when certain people don't get struck by lightning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: AmishDude
A lot of people who "miss" Reagan don't remember Reagan. It wasn't all sunshine and puppies in the 80s. We remember the best of times.

I'm starting to think we need to find old news articles from back in the 80's to show some how it really was back then

78 posted on 12/06/2006 6:00:03 AM PST by Mo1 (Thank You Mr & Mrs "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" Voter ... you just screwed us on so many levels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

how about we reform the congress New Hampshire style...you can work as much or as little as you like for your extravagant salary of $100 a year. i think this is more what The Founding Fathers had in mind!


79 posted on 12/06/2006 6:00:51 AM PST by Nickh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: steve-b
See, that's what's wrong with Republicans. They don't understand PR and they can't play hardball.

Republicans should have said this is a good idea, and then on Fridays they should start listing all of the democrats who are OUT OF TOWN, right there on the House floor.

Americans can't stand whiners, because they think they are weak. Democrats are playing smart here, and I can see that the Republicans aren't.

80 posted on 12/06/2006 6:01:59 AM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, thank you for Mozart Lover's son's safe return, and look after Jemian's son, please!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-107 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson