Most of Congress Not Showing Up To Work - Laws Pass Anyway
During the recent Covid 19 crisis, governments at all levels have set standards for businesses staying open which are deemed essential. In the U.S. Congress, lawmaking appears not to be an essential activity. Congressional participation in the first coronavirus relief bill was sparse in the House.
The Democratic leadership, whose members are the majority, had organized a strategy of getting a unanimous consent vote, but a Republican stopped that by requiring a voice vote. “There was kind of yelling out of yays and nays,” remembered Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, making an easily understood process sound confusing.
“I want to show up and vote and be involved with the process, but I have to think about my staff and their families,” commented Cedric Richmond, Democratic Representative from Louisiana. “We are being hit real hard in my home state and I don’t want to make it worse.”
Richmond did not seem as concerned about the well-being of his state’s residents when he posted on Facebook “I wish everyone in Louisiana's Second Congressional District a spirited and safe Mardi Gras today!” on February 25, well past the time politicians should have warned people about the virus.
When Republican Thomas Massey of Kentucky demanded a roll call of the vote, that motion was quickly voted down. Without AOC’s help in explaining the procedure, Bhutanese immigrant and Brooklyn painter Ashok Gurung responded “I voted for AOC to stop this kind of stuff from happening, I bet she at least gave a speech.”
AOC and erstwhile movement builder and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders both railed against the bill in Senate and House floor speeches. And both voted for the bill. “Hey, I showed up. That's, like, ninety percent of it,” Bernie opined while walking through the airport to hightail it home to Vermont. “And we’re getting stuff.”
Liberals previously claimed to refuse to go along with dictators unless they ran a foreign country, but in the current pandemic they’re turning the tide toward despotism in domestic affairs as well.
“Now we follow new rules because it's for the right reasons. We won’t follow Trump, of course. In a crisis, democracy means we just need to do the right thing until this is all over,” argued Pelosi. “I’m reading books from Gabriela Garcia Marquez’s favorite reading list until then.”
The Democratic leadership, whose members are the majority, had organized a strategy of getting a unanimous consent vote, but a Republican stopped that by requiring a voice vote. “There was kind of yelling out of yays and nays,” remembered Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, making an easily understood process sound confusing.
“I want to show up and vote and be involved with the process, but I have to think about my staff and their families,” commented Cedric Richmond, Democratic Representative from Louisiana. “We are being hit real hard in my home state and I don’t want to make it worse.”
Richmond did not seem as concerned about the well-being of his state’s residents when he posted on Facebook “I wish everyone in Louisiana's Second Congressional District a spirited and safe Mardi Gras today!” on February 25, well past the time politicians should have warned people about the virus.
When Republican Thomas Massey of Kentucky demanded a roll call of the vote, that motion was quickly voted down. Without AOC’s help in explaining the procedure, Bhutanese immigrant and Brooklyn painter Ashok Gurung responded “I voted for AOC to stop this kind of stuff from happening, I bet she at least gave a speech.”
AOC and erstwhile movement builder and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders both railed against the bill in Senate and House floor speeches. And both voted for the bill. “Hey, I showed up. That's, like, ninety percent of it,” Bernie opined while walking through the airport to hightail it home to Vermont. “And we’re getting stuff.”
Liberals previously claimed to refuse to go along with dictators unless they ran a foreign country, but in the current pandemic they’re turning the tide toward despotism in domestic affairs as well.
“Now we follow new rules because it's for the right reasons. We won’t follow Trump, of course. In a crisis, democracy means we just need to do the right thing until this is all over,” argued Pelosi. “I’m reading books from Gabriela Garcia Marquez’s favorite reading list until then.”
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