Did you know the U.S. Senate has been in session only 100 days this year? And the House has worked much less, just 72 days and cancelled 24 voting days. And so far, nothing to secure our elections, reduce inflation, cut spending or prevent another Democrat shutdown has been signed into law.
Well, what isn’t shocking is the fact nothing has gotten done while they only work 2.5 days out of the week. It is crazy. At the slow rate they are getting stuff done, they should be working at least six days.
As Rick Scott (R-FL) noted in a recent letter to Senate colleagues. Republicans, Democrats and Independents overwhelmingly want voter ID for elections and only Americans to be able to register for elections, the main components of the SAVE America Act.
Yet the Senate still hasn’t passed it — or even agreed on how to proceed on it. And even if it were to pass today, there is not enough time for states to implement it prior to November. To fix this, they need to change how they do business.
The job of all members of Congress used to be to arrive in Washington to debate, vote on and accomplish all our agenda items before they allowed themselves to go home. In fact, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said that when he was first elected, the Senate regularly started at 10:00 every Monday and didn’t leave until 4:00 on Friday.
Sadly, that’s no longer the case. In recent decades, under the leadership of both Democrats and Republicans, the House and Senate have worked less and less, and Americans who work more and more, are still feeling the consequences of the legislature’s lack of urgency.
In a typical week, Congress arrives late Monday to vote and leaves as soon as possible on Thursday afternoon, sometimes even earlier. Congress is rarely in session on Fridays and almost never works over the weekend — even when pressing deadlines approach on issues critical to the safety, security and stability of the American people.
And it’s not just election security that is at stake. The Senate passed a continuing resolution before leaving for August recess and the House followed suit earlier this month but there is a possibility of a government shutdown in December when the CR runs out. Instead of passing CRs, Congress must go back to regular order and pass appropriations bills on time, something that has not been done in 30 years.
America is the greatest country in the world. We have the strongest economy because of the workers who bust their butts every day to do their jobs, provide for their families and achieve the American Dream.
I think Congress should demonstrate the kind of work ethic we the American people have to keep our economy moving. Congress has so many policies to enact before election day this November. If they still have work to do, then why do they only show up 2.5 days a week? I know of no business that operates 2.5 days a week while paying their employees to work 5 days a week.
No one party or individual is to blame, it’s a problem that’s been getting progressively worse for decades. Congress is decreasingly productive every year because they leave to go home on Thursday when there is still a lot of work to do.
Time is short. Getting all of this done before November would mean staying in Washington until they figure out how to deliver it. It would mean sitting down and working together to find solutions, instead of throwing up their hands, giving up and going home.
They can’t take "no" for an answer, and they can’t stop just because it’s hard.
To that end, we should call and email our representatives and senators and demand they work more than two and a half days a week.
Congress must fix the problem. They need to show up every Monday morning, stay until Friday night or later, start voting more and make good on their promises. That’s what the American people deserve.