Hard days ahead for Congress
The days of milk and honey are over in D.C. — here comes the five-day workweek.
It's been a rather easy year for our current crop of congresscritters. They'll have worked a grand total of 103 days in 2006, seven fewer than the infamous "Do-Nothing Congress" of 1948. And for only $165,200 a year! Here's how Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn, described Congress back in May:
"They call it the Tuesday to Thursday Club. That means you get here Tuesday night, you have a few easy votes, you vote on Wednesday and then you go back home Thursday afternoon. And that, believe it or not, is considered a work week in Washington."
No longer! Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is cracking the whip — members of Congress will have to be at the Capitol by 6:30 p.m. most Mondays, and they can't leave until 2 p.m. on Fridays. Lordy lordy, how will they survive?
"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."
Eats away at families. Right. Unlike, say, the bankruptcy bill.
It's been a rather easy year for our current crop of congresscritters. They'll have worked a grand total of 103 days in 2006, seven fewer than the infamous "Do-Nothing Congress" of 1948. And for only $165,200 a year! Here's how Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn, described Congress back in May:
"They call it the Tuesday to Thursday Club. That means you get here Tuesday night, you have a few easy votes, you vote on Wednesday and then you go back home Thursday afternoon. And that, believe it or not, is considered a work week in Washington."
No longer! Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is cracking the whip — members of Congress will have to be at the Capitol by 6:30 p.m. most Mondays, and they can't leave until 2 p.m. on Fridays. Lordy lordy, how will they survive?
"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."
Eats away at families. Right. Unlike, say, the bankruptcy bill.
That bankruptcy bill really grinds my gears. I dropped in at Chapter 13 last March or so and their numbers were in the cellar. The bankruptcy legislation makes it much harder to file Ch. 13's, requiring all sorts of hoop jumping and whatnot. And this is the plan where people get to keep their houses and pay back at a MINIMUM 10% of their unsecured debts. Most people I saw actually paid by 100%
What really makes me mad though is that the number one cause of Ch 13 bankruptcy isn't fiscal irresponcibility, it's medical bills. These are the people who own homes, not the ones collecting welfare checks. And they are the ones who now have to suffer bureaucracy and counseling before they can enter a legal aggreement to pay off their debts. ARG!!