Former Kansas congressman Bill Roy has a column on today’s Opinion pages about how the current Congress may be the worst in modern times. He points to the problems with lobbyist influence and runaway spending and earmarks. But he is also concerned about how little Congress works now. He cites a book by two congressional observers, one conservative and one liberal, which notes that Congress will meet only 97 days this year, compared with a two-year average of 323 days in the 1960s and 1970s, and 278 days in the 1980s.
Roy writes: “The few meetings reflect Congress’ miserable failure to exercise its highly important oversight duties, and the subjugation of its powers to an administration that recognizes few restrictions on executive power and disdains review of its actions.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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18 Comments
Now we know why Garth McGinn wants to run for Congress. I mean his salary will increase and he will be able to only work only a fraction that he does at his current job.
Perhaps we should all vote for Garth, based on some compassionate job re-assignment. or not
You maybe right… It would seem the incumbent is not working! Or for that matter thinking for himself either, just saying yes to whatever the President wants… Nice work if you can get it, just not for the country!
interest on the debt. a shadow tax.thank you republicans
http://www.greatreality.com/DebtGlance.htm
Your Personal Share*$244.28/monthThis comes out of your pocket every month.(Interest figures can fluctuate widely from month to month.They are currently very low for the size of the debt,because interest rates have been at historic lows.Even though rates are rising now, our actual interest payments still fall in some months, because we replace old high interest debt with new lower interest debt. These recent interest hikes haven’t cost us much yet. They will! )
Your Current Share*of the National Debt PayoffPayoff Term Your MonthlyPayment15 yrs. $465.5530 yrs. $315.5750 yr.s $266.62100 yrs. $246.01(If we were to begin paying off the debttoday, before it gets any bigger.Based on the interest figures shown above.)
Interesting thought there .morg. Did the reports say ONLY Republicans worked less than 100 days? Or did it say CONGRESS? The entire Congress is lame, lazy, unresponsive, out of control, and deserves to be replaced.
Don’t re-elect anyone!
I can not wait until the 07 congress. I bet you see a LOT more work especially uncovering all the corruption from the prveious 2 sessions. Supeonas and investigations will uncover much
As a liberal democrat, I believe we need to attract the traditional fiscal conservatives to our party- and keep out the social conservatives.
I do believe in social programs through government and keeping religion out of government, but I’ve always thought we should do so wisely. There are far too many pet projects being written into funding for other things. Clinton’s era controlled spending better than any of the recent republican Presidents and their congress.
Isn’t it funny the party that screams most about fiscal conservatives end up being the ones who act as if they have an open ended credit card.
Yeah, great point p_m. I think that the GOP is permanently busted up over this, too. Never again will they be able to talk about being the party of fiscal responsibility.
That dog will never hunt again, thanks to George Bush and Karl Rove.
I agree that the Dems would do well to invite the fiscal conservatives in, if they’ll come. (the Dems have more than a minor problem with fiscal conservatism traditionally, but they’ve made great strides recently)
Let’s pay our Congressmen and women by the hour…at minimum wage…and see if they spend more time on the floor than out shaking hands and going to parties.
Seems a lot of things are lost on the good people of Kansas — particularly in the SE corner … in todays paper the Beagle in essence said that voter turnout in Sedgwick county will be smaller than in Johnson County because they are mostly white collar (smarter?) and here in Sedgwick county are blue collar (not so smart?).. I believe the political parties don’t want an educated / informed electorate that will vote — it’s why public education and oversight in Kansas is underfunded — they really don’t want you to see the corruption / irregularities in our government — ignorance is bliss at work???? More importantly they want higher education to only be affordable by the well heeled and wealthy —
Well, if the “Beagle” had backed DEBATES between TT and Garth McGinn, things would have been different. Like the Wichita, KANSAS, Eagle, didn’t want the KANSAS NATIVE Garth McGinn, a FAIR OPPORTUNITY against out-of-state interests. “course the Eagle is OWNED by out-of-state employers.
yet, still not one post by the eagle editorial board about todd tiahrt. He is part of this entire mess. He hasn’t been held accoutable or even questioned about his failures.
And Todd Tiarht will never be questioned about anything he has done or said. He has the Christian Right so wrapped up in their mission from God and the other loyal Repubs would NEVER vote for Democrat or Independent. These loyalists would rather send the country down the wrong path than to lose.
You don’t see Todd bragging about how much time he’s spent in congress representing his constituents. If he wants to work part time his pay should be commensurate!
I have also advocated providing dormitory housing for the members of Congress. No more limousines, no more multi-million dollar houses beight bought and no more perks for these people.
Being a respresentative for Kansas in Washington, DC should mean just that – being a servant.
If these people actually had to live in a dormitory (much like college – remember) and then make it mandatory that a member of each party has to room with a member of the opposite party.
Could you just picture Todd Tiarht being a roomate with a Democrat? They would either kill each other off or they would learn to work together. Either way, it is a win-win situation for us taxpayers.
.morg–
Haven’t you heard Cheney: “the debt doesn’t matter.”
Oh, and “there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has WMD’s.”
And also, “I have cut all ties with Halliburton” while he continues to hold stock options, get a paycheck and help grant billion dollar no-bid contract to the company.
Yeah . . . “the debt doesn’t matter.”
Funny, it mattered to Argentina.
They may not have met very often, but they know how to vote themselves pay raises like clockwork.
Meanwhile, the minimum wage? Hasn’t gone up for years . . .
They don’t need to meet at all.
Everything in the Bush admin. is already a foregone conclusion.
Ol’ rubberstamp denny asshurt and crew should just stay home until they are ready to sell legislation for lobbyists again.
Our best legislation so far got Bush’s ONLY vetoe.
Why bother????
Vote Republican If You Think It’s A Good Idea To Put Detailed Atom Bomb Plans On The Internet For Anyone To See
Vote Republican If You Want To Stay The Course In Iraq
Vote Republican If You Think The President Should Get Advice On Gay-Bashing From A Pastor Who Secretly Bangs Male Prostitutes
Vote Republican If You Think The Best Way To Deal With A Child Predator Is To Cover Your Own Ass
Vote Republican If You Hate The Military
Vote Republican If You Like People Who’ll Say Literally Anything To Get Elected
Vote Republican If You Think The Best Way To Answer A Tough Question Is To Have Your Questioner Beaten Up
Vote Republican If You Think That Laws Are For Other PeopleVote Republican If You Think It’s Cool For Congressmen To Pay Their Mistresses To Keep Quiet Until After Election Day
Vote Republican If You Still Think That This Crew In Congress Isn’t The Most Corrupt, Hypocritical, Useless Bunch Of Asshats You’ve Ever Seen In Your Life