Forget the Nation, Just Vacation!

Over the too many years, beginning during President Clinton’s first term, that Republican’ts were the majority party in the U.S. Congress, they were notorious for their abbreviated working hours and leisurely breaks from having to do the people’s business. George W. Bush actually set the record for presidential vacation time (at a cost to taxpayers of $20 million for air travel alone), topping even Ronald Reagan’s liberal holiday schedule. Now, anticipating gains on Capitol Hill come November’s midterm elections, members of the congressional GOP are trying to legislate a two-month, taxpayer-funded break for themselves between November 2 and January 3, 2011, when the next Congress is scheduled to be sworn in.

Gee, does wannabe-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) need some more time to brush up on his golf game?

From The Huffington Post:

House Republicans are going forward with plans to introduce a resolution on Tuesday to prohibit the House of Representatives from assembling during the two-month period following the November elections.

A GOP leadership aide confirmed to The Huffington Post that the resolution, authored by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for the purposes of preventing Democrats from passing legislative items during the lame-duck session, would be introduced before the House passes additional Medicaid and teacher funding.

Haven’t Republican’ts already taken a vacation during the last two years, doing little or nothing to help the United States dig itself out of the financial mess that Bush and company left behind? Haven’t they already put their feet up enough, as they tried to slow down or outright kill legislation designed to improve access to health-care services, hold Wall Street accountable for its irresponsible practices, regulate the predatory credit-card industry, and bring valuable fiscal reform to the nation’s student loan program? It seems to me that “the Party of No” has already exceeded its right to be lazy, to do nothing while collecting fat paychecks. Isn’t it about time Republican’ts on Capitol Hill started to work for a living? Over the last two years, Democrats appear to have been the only ones who took the nation’s needs and business seriously.

If the GOP really thinks it can win voter support in November by endorsing a two-month holiday for its members of Congress who are already not doing much of anything to help Americans, it’s more out of touch than even its worst critics imagined.

READ MORE: “Republicans Seek to Handcuff Democrats in Lame-duck Session with Resolution,” by Molly K. Hooper (The Hill); “Lame Duck Hypocrisy: GOP Leaders Blast 2010 Lame Duck Session Despite Supporting Previous Sessions” (Think Progress).