[Vision2020] Legislative Question, V-Peeps

[Kenneth Marcy]

On Monday 21 February 2011 07:19:43 Tom Hansen wrote:
> With the absence of a federal budget threatening to shutdown the
> government on March 4th, WHY is the U.S. Congress (whose members are paid
> in the neighborhood of $170,000/year) taking A WEEK off for Presidents'
> DAY?

Considering that about 1 in 6 members of the federal legislature were newly 
elected last November, and have only been in office for six weeks or so, it may 
be that the leadership considers it recess time at Kongressional Kindergarten, 
not to mention a chance for the not-so-untenured members to breathe a little.
 
> Thoughts?

I wouldn't worry too much about the money being wasted. It's on the order of 
magnitude of a couple of million dollars. Considering the entire scale of 
operations, it's a relatively small amount. Yes, it's a lot for one family, 
but we're talking about the entire nation, not just one family's finances.

One potential benefit from a week back home for Congress, especially for the 
new members in the House, are opportunities for their constituents to speak to 
them. In this context it is noteworthy to recognize that those speaking to 
them likely will include more people who voted against them in November. 
Incumbents now have more opportunities to hear those with whom they have less 
agreement than with their sycophantic supporters before Election Day.

One result of these conversations may be a greater measure of level-headed 
caution to avoid the counterproductive foolishness of voting in favor of 
needless chaos by failing to raise the Federal debt ceiling. The probability 
of childish games of political chicken inside the Beltway may be mitigated 
with adult conversations back home with people who voted for someone else.


Ken