Goodbye To The Do-Nothing Congress

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

---

This marks the end of what may have been the least productive Congress of modern times.

And, what finer way to remember it than two stories that broke last week?

First, when Democratic leaders announced the new Congress would work five days a week instead of the barely three days a week they worked this year, Democrats and Republicans howled.

Democrat Debbie Wasserman said it would force her to reschedule her daughter's Brownie troop meetings. Republican Jack Kingston said it would mean less time with his family and showed Democrats didn't care about families.

Earth to Congress: there are a lot of working parents who have to juggle family and work schedules. Maybe another line of work would better suit your lifestyles.

And there was this: The House Ethics Committee concluded House leaders had probably known for years that former Congressman Mark Foley was making inappropriate contact with teenage pages but chose to ignore it.

Yet the committee decided bad judgment didn't mean house rules had been violated so they recommended no punishment – not even a reprimand – for anyone.

As the father of grown children who once interned at the Capitol, I believe the time has come to shut down all congressional page and intern programs. Congress has demonstrated it has no real interest in protecting kids from what they might encounter there.

As for Congress working too hard, we should not only demand it work five days a week, but that members punch a time clock like many working Americans.

That way, we would at least know where they are.

---

E-mail Face the Nation.

[kaliveotin]

I forgot to mention this was the ninth raise they've given themselves since the compassionate conservative republicants took control of congress 12 years ago.

[kaliveotin]

THIS WAS NOT A DO-NOTHING CONGRESS. THEY GAVE THEMSELVES A THIRTY-THOUSAND DOLLAR A YEAR RAISE.
Think about it. A person working FULL-TIME for an entire year on the minimum wage makes only one-third as much as the raise that congress gave itself. Let me repeat that. Congress while refusing to increase the minimum wage gave themselves a thirty thousand dollar raise which in and of itself was three times as much, three times as much as the total wages for a minimum wage worker working an entire year at full time.
P.S. Congress worked slightly less than two days a week. CONGRESS WORKED LESS THAN TWO DAYS A WEEK.

[mreberry]

This is an insult to hard working Americans. Congress has worked a three day week and the least in modern history during a time of major problems like immigration, the war, increased gap between the rich and the rest of us, balanceing security with individual freedom, the biggest mess we have ever had after the disaster in New Orleans, government corruption, and on and on. On top of that, the biggest deficit in history and no accounting of what happended to all our tax dollars wasted on projects and in departments.

[ethom90148]

While I laud Mr Shiffers commentary, I can't help but think "are you all just figuring these guys out?" The Republicans have been walking in "lockstep" since the first kangaroo court that Colin Powell presided over in the UN. Not to mention that our dimwitted President landed on an aircraft carrier and announced that the war was over! Mission accomplished! I could have sworn that wars have two sides and one side can't end it unilaterally. Kind of like Japan announcing that WWII was over two months after bombing Pearl Harbor. We as a nation, have got to start holding these "Politicians" accountable for their actions. Why isn't the penalty for cheating the American People through poor and fraudulent behavior in Congress, just as stiff as that for tax evaders? What we have seen from this Republican Congress is the worst side of Americans. We need to wash them ALL out of government come November of 2008.

[olebd]

These people are SUPPOSED to be public SERVANTS working for me and you. Through the course of history, what has caused their rise to be put upon a pedestal other than their own bloated sense of entitlement? For starters, there are too many enablers in DC that stroke them with free perks and special treatment.

If they are not in their office or in session at least 5 days a week from 9 to 5, they should be walking the streets and talking to the people they represent.

I vote we put ankle bracelets on them and the means for every "common" person to keep track of them through the internet.

[bushrocks1]

Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to World War II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. To a hypothetical, I can answer, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country that can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front. Now those traitors have occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq; the President hasn%u2019t been impeached. Why?...I'm waiting.

[timetrips1]

I agree how unreasonable of us to ask them to work 5 days a week. I've lost track of all the "school functions" of my child I've missed because of my job. I agree with Schieffer, lets pass a law requiring congress to punch a clock and get paid by the hour but no overtime authorized because they are not productive enough during regular business hours.

[tejasdemo]

The pathetic thing is that these crooks walk away with lifetime pensions and healthcare benefits and they could carealess what we say.

[tejasdemo]

Rafterman,

I could not have said it better !

[bluestardad]

Dicktater and the Boys will never be the same, chew on that Tom the Hammer Delay!