“What are Republicans doing?” asked Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a Thursday news conference with House Democratic leadership. “They’re running away from their responsibilities here on Capitol Hill.” (The Washington Post).
Trump is scared. So, he has demanded that his lackey, actually the best lacky ever, Mike Johnson, cancel the number of days that the House of Representatives is in session. Most of the Republicans in the House most likely prefer this idea, so that they can pretend that they care about their constituents, but if they remained in their job, they might have to vote on legislation that demonstrates how much more they care about pleasing Trump than helping those who voted them into office in the first place. Mike Johnson may be called the Speaker of the House, but the only person he speaks for is Trump.
There are 243 days from January 1 through August 31. If you are a full-time employee with a standard five-day workweek, you probably worked around 165 of them, depending on how generous your holiday and PTO policy is. But the House held floor votes on 65 of those days, just over a quarter of the time. That’s low, even by Congress’s standards. Washington always slows down during election years as members spend more time at home campaigning. But No Labels pulled the data going all the way back to 1994; 2026 was the fewest voting days in over three decades. (No Labels)
The total cost to taxpayers for members of the House of Representatives includes a salary of $174,000 per year, plus an average office budget of approximately $1.93 million per member, which covers staff salaries, office expenses, and travel. Additionally, members receive benefits such as health insurance and a pension under the Federal Employees Retirement System. (fedlaws.org)
Umm, at least for me, if the public servants for whom I am paying their salaries, benefits, and office budgets are not showing up for work on a regular basis, I am not happy and want my money back. But who am I just a lowly taxpayer!
