Why the House called a time out

January 9, 2007

Considering how very little work Congress did in 2005 and 2006, I was a little surprised to see so many people raise a fuss about the House not working yesterday. The official reason the chamber was in recess was that freshman lawmakers needed more time to return from an orientation retreat. The real reason was that the Ohio State vs. University of Florida national championship game was last night.

In some circles, this sparked some pretty loud howls. What about the 100-hour agenda? What about the laborious five-day work weeks we were promised? Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) complained, “We all know the big national championship game is on Monday night at 8 p.m., but taking an entire day to watch the game isn’t what we should spend part of our five-day workweek doing.”

As it turns out, this is what happens when the Dem leadership does something nice for the GOP leadership.

[T]he real reason [the House was not in session] was that some lawmakers, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other members of the delegations from Ohio and Florida, wanted to travel to Arizona to watch tonight’s college football championship between Ohio State and the University of Florida. […]

Democratic congressional sources claim that their leadership wanted a normal Monday in session, but that when Boehner’s office requested the day off due to the football game, it relented in the interest of keeping the peace. (The Senate was in session today.) Members of the House typically arrive late Monday evening to vote on noncontroversial suspension bills, such as naming a post office.

“He did in fact request that votes not commence this week until tomorrow” because of the football game, Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy told ABCNews.com, calling the brouhaha “much ado about nothing.”

That’s probably true, just so long as Republicans stop blaming Pelosi and Hoyer. Boehner asked for a favor, and as a gesture of good will, Dems consented to give lawmakers a day off.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the week is going to be a wash. As Hoyer spokeswoman Stacey Bernards noted, “This week, the House will vote to implement the 9-11 Commission recommendations, raise the minimum wage, lower drug prices for seniors and expand stem cell research — I believe most Americans would agree that this is a full week of work.”

It’ll practically be more than the GOP House accomplished in 2006.

I wonder where those Republicans got their football tickets.

  • If the right-wing media makes an issue of this and blames the Democrats, the Dem leadership should reconsider any concessions to the GOP and start playing hardball. No more favors. They can’t be trusted.

    If they don’t make an issue of it, (low standard here but) good on them.

  • First off..Do repubs have no sense of shame…

    The same Mike Price who GLADLY worked 2.5 ays a week for 6 years is now going to complain about only working 4 days a week now….??!!???WTF

    I really hope this will teach the DEMS an early lesson about the Repub and for that fact the MSM agenda during the next 2 years….

    The Dems could pass 9 of the 10 things they promised but Repubs and the media will claim that the DEMS “failed” to live up to their campaign promises..

    Time to wake up Nancy….time to play Hardball….stop being nice (especially when you dont need to) and get legislation thru that will make a difference in the lives of Americans, Republicans be damned…..

    Repubs have proven time and time again they will cut off their nose to spite their face so dont expect ANY help or assistance from them….remember the Repub motto is and always will be Party First….Everything else second….

  • ReichSpeak:

    “Give us what we what, and/or we’ll gripe to the press about it!”

    A Bipartisanship of “Catch-22?”

  • “As it turns out, this is what happens when the Dem leadership does something nice for the GOP leadership.”

    Future requests for favors should not be honored unless they have unanimous consent of the Repbublican party. Force them to be responsible. And tell America why the new policy is needed — because some Republicans are immature whinners.

  • I’m sure John “The Escalator” McCain isn’t complaining… he was right there on the ground with the coin toss, in all his High Definition splendor…

  • Hmmm. I thought I submitted a comment here, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up. Must’ve got stuck in the internet pipes somewhere.

    I believe most Americans would agree that this is a full week of work

    Why? All this stuff is old hat, promised long before the November elections. It all has overwhelming public support. Why can’t it be passed in five minutes or less? Shrub’s going to veto it anyway, which should be when the work/fun begins.

    I’m all for getting to real work right away. Like setting up Impeachment and War Crimes hearings.

  • I’m glad the Republicans have their priorities. It’s not like we’re at war or anything

  • Hoyer said despite the decision this week, he intends to make a five-day work week, or as close to it, standard operating procedure. Is this what any of you would consider a FIVE-DAY work week:

    “The practice, as you know, will be that we will come in at 6:30 p.m. on MONDAYS and adjourn no later than 2 p.m. on the day of adjournment. Many times that will be Friday, sometimes it will be THURSDAY. We understand the need for members to get out. If it is on Thursday, the expectation is we may go a little later than that, but that will be generally the practice we will try to pursue,” Hoyer said on the floor.

    Also, when does the 100 hour clock start again?

  • Loser cooties! LOL.

    Republicans got loser cooties. And they’re a super-strain of mutant cooties that make Republicans say stupid stuff and makes their balls fall off whenever they encounter a Bush.

  • Talk about you bad calls.
    These people are so lost in DC they just are not getting it. I don’t give a damn where who is from and what game it is, this is seriously unacceptable.

    Congress take day off for night football game ???? I am sorry Boehner, if you want to go the game, go, we will be conducting business without your input.

    I am so tired of democrats, they do nice things for animals, only to get bad press over it. Learn people learn. In case you forgot, the country is looking at your 100 hour agenda and taking a day off for a football game isn’t sitting well. Maybe if it wasn’t the day before the president announces troop escalation in a WAR, maybe if all the budgets were passed, maybe if country was operating smoothly, maybe then you can take a day off for football.

    Otherwise, get back to the fricken work we voted you to do, fixing this damn country.

  • ScottW:

    I still haven’t been able to find the justification for the 100-hour clock not starting January 4, 2007 and continuing 24 hours per day since.

  • So, did Pelosi promise a five-day work week or not? -Trollmas

    Pelosi is, fortunately for our country, not as rigid and inflexible as the stick up your ass.

  • That means her campaign issue about GOP not working 5-day work weeks was just smoke and mirrors?

  • That means her campaign issue about GOP not working 5-day work weeks was just smoke and mirrors?

    Poor logic – no wonder everything thinks you’re a troll. It is well-documented that the GOP didn’t work 5-day work weeks – the last Congress put in the least working time of any Congress in memory Why would the fact that the GOP asked for and recieved the day off have anything to do with the veracity of the charge that they didn’t work 5 day weeks? Just sort of proves it, doesn’t it?

    And since you stated in the next thread that this was is more important the WWII – how do you feel about the GOP shutting down the peoples’ buisness in wartime so they could watch a football game?

  • ***Trollmas***
    ——————————doubtful

    That would be the Winter Solstice celebration for circular-witted spoofs—right?

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