Marco Rubio made a triumphant return to the state Capitol on Wednesday when he addressed the House Republican Caucus on the country's debt problems.
He was hailed by some of his former colleagues as the returning hero, but his appearance leads to a searching question: why the heck was he in Tallahassee, and not in Washington D.C., where the clock is ticking to a week from this Friday, March 4, the deadline for Democrats and Republicans to come up with an agreement to keep the government from having to turn off the lights and the government shut down?
The answer is that Congress is blowing off this week – despite the urgency of the moment. That's because in classic D.C. style, while the country was able to enjoy a single day off this week (maybe you got President's Day off – the good folks at Atalaya opted not to allow CL staffers such a holiday), our Representatives and Senators have the whole week off.
It's nothing unique. Traditionally while the country's working stiffs get a few holidays a year (such as Memorial or Labor Day), Congress always seems to think it's okay to take the entire week off. Or, if it's Easter, two weeks off.
This slacker style work schedule even alienated freshman Republican House member Allen West, who blasted the limited workload when he received the House schedule from Majority Leader Eric Cantor back in December. At the time, West said:
"As we know, Congress needs to work to create jobs, reduce the deficit, strengthen our economy, limit the size of government and contend with a plethora of national security issues," West says. "How are we to do that when, among other things, we start off being in session only ten days the entire month of January?"
Taking exception to the audacity of a freshman complaining about the workload was Cantor's spokesman, Brad Dayspring, who invoked the classic "less government is better government" line:
"More days in session has always resulted in bigger, more intrusive government, not more production. What matters is who’s in charge and the process put in place, not the number of days in session."
Okay, just so we have this figured out: Being in session doesn't really matter that much, since it's about process and who's in charge. What?
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2011.