Disabled Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran (who worked seven days 24 hours a day)

December 6, 2006

Open letter to the Congress of the United States and the American people.

Re: Congress has time to make change

I read that if Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House she believed there would be no TIME to take action to impeach Bush. Well, let’s put the Bush impeachment on the back burner for a moment. Having time of day is not a problem for Congress; not using their time fully is the problem.

It’s been widely documented that Congress works approximately 100 days per year. The average yearly salary of Congress is $165,000.00 per year – which does not include their private pensions or top-notch health and dental insurance plans, all fully paid for by the American people, the government. At this time the Congress meets less than two-and-a-half days per week while taking four-and-a-half-day weekends. It has been averaged out that these bureaucrats – Democrats and Republicans- make the equivalent of $1650.00 per workday or $206.25 per hour if they work an eight-hour day – this does not include the benefits packages noted above. And let’s not forget their ability to vote for cost-of-living raises for themselves, and they do.

There should be shame and great sorrow held in the hearts of each congressional member who refuses to fully work in their elected positions with the utmost integrity with exceptional work ethics. The majority of Americans don’t have such fortune to work so little time for so much money and perquisites.

Congress voted to go to war and on March 20, 2003 they committed American troops, bodies and souls, to 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week into Iraq; one of the bloodiest and longest wars seen in modern history. Meanwhile Congressional members work a 2.5-day week (and hopefully eight-hour days), no more than 100 days per year.

While Congress takes their 4.5 day weekends our troops, with no relief in sight, are being re-deployed into combat to fight again and again, using the stop-gap methods of the military, increasing the odds of their returning to loved ones in body bags. To-date, after more than three-and-a-half years, our troops are still being sent into this war without proper body armor and/or armored vehicles, potable water, etc., while corporate profiteers are reaping hundreds of billions of dollars in profits through no-bid government contracts (Halliburton and Blackwater Industries are two examples. If Congress has yet to view the well-documented video “Iraq for Sale” it may open closed eyes to comprehend the government-sponsored rampant corporate greed.)

It’s appalling that the American Congress, those who sent our troops to war, believe that working a 2.5 day workweek in Washington entitles them to a 4.5 day weekend at an exorbitant pay rate of $1650.00 a day. As the United States Congress leaves work for their long weekends to the genteel serenity of their well-groomed homes, American troops leave their families behind to fight valiantly in a foreign country giving their lives for little pay under exacerbating conditions. If these men and women return alive, many have little or nothing to show for their long deployments. Too many are left with debilitating, life-changing wounds; crippling emotional and physical scars that often aren’t covered by their VA medical. Hundreds have become homeless.

Sadly, at the same time, there are millions of American civilians who are earning the minimum wage. The minimum wage set by Federal Law through Congress at a pittance of $5.15 per hour. Americans who are paid at this minimum level make the following: an eight-hour day pays $41.20; a five-day week pays $206.00; a bimonthly salary pays $824.00 per month; a yearly salary pays $9,888.00. These are pre-taxable dollars and most likely do not include any benefits packages. These Americans’ annual salaries are only $1638.00 more than the $8250.00 a congressional member makes in five days. If Congress votes to increase the Federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour these Americans will then be guaranteed to make a whopping $13,920.00 per year before taxes, $2580.00 less than 10 days pay for the average Congress member.

At the same time the majority of middle-class American families must have two full-time workers to support their basic needs. Like the poor many individual family members work two and sometimes three jobs each. Barely 20% of working Americans have pension plans. The majority of Americans cannot afford the extremely high costs of health and dental insurance and go without. Remnants of the Social Security Plan may be their only income after their retirement age (which Congress has considered raising to 70+ years old). Congress members are able to opt out of Social Security in favor of lucrative private pension plans, which can be worth millions of dollars after they retire from their 2.5-day per week positions. Inflation-adjusted pensions are available to congressional members as early as age 50.

The people elect the Congressional Members of the United States; these duly elected representatives must be held to the same work ethic and standards to which American citizens are held. The newly established Democratic Majority must take their positions in government seriously; they must demand the Minority Republicans do the same. They must work to the same expectations they have of the American people: work at least the eight-hour, five-day workweek OR not be paid a full yearly salary with benefit and pensions.

If working full-time in their positions is too much for these elected officials, they should step down from their gilded government positions to allow other qualified candidate-elects who are willing to work take their positions. A mandate must be put into place enforcing Congress to work the standard five-day workweek and complete the American work ethic like everyone else. Fortunate Americans, those who still have jobs, work an average of 269 days per year taking the standard 2-day weekends off with a 2-week vacation.

Working a full work schedule, the Congress will have more than twice the time needed to do their jobs. The first and foremost change that needs to occur is not the impeachment of Mr. Bush. Initiate the change to replace the part-time two-and-a-half-day workweek to a full-time eight-hour, five-day workweek. Then there will be time to investigate the current, pressing problems of the broken American political structure.

Selecting a NON-PARTISAN, independent investigation will give all Americans a definitive answer to where and why billions of dollars are being spent on a war in foreign lands and inside our own homeland (Iraq and Katrina debacle). After three long years at war the only measurable results are the monetary gains for corporate war profiteers, who seem to be close affiliates of Congress and the Executive branches, filling their pockets from the blood of our troops and hard earned American dollars.

The American people, the people of this great country, those who vote to keep our democracy alive can then be the “deciders” if Mr. Bush should be impeached by the outcome of the investigations. So, please do not tell the American people that there is no time to make changes. Start with one change: work a full eight-hour a day, five-day workweek. Then there will be time to investigate any and all corruption that seems to have seeped into the elected governing bodies of the House of Representatives, The Senate and the Executive Branch of our government.

Sincerely,

Charlane Tamara Keith
American Citizen

Republicans, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about families.

klyde in comment #50 pointed this out before me.

I thought that the people making important decisions concerning this country were supposed to be…um…SMART. Maybe we need to require Congress and the Administration to pass a basic, standardized aptitude test.

Are you trying to say that any time a member of congress disagrees with the leadership’s position on an issue, he should quit instead of voicing his opinion? Clearly we would get a whole lot more done if we did things your way. I thought that the purpose of a bipartisan system of government was to hear both sides of every argument.

Yes, if he believes in his convictions, then YES! Be a man, and QUIT! Stop whining about small and petty issues. As I said, if he (Kingston) would put in half the time as our soldiers, then he would know the REAL DEAL! But alas, I forgot, NONE of the GUTLESS COWARDS have EVER SERVED in the military or have any significant combat experience.

HOW MANY GENERALS have we lost because of his (Kingston and countless others) complicit acts and overt tones of mismanagement and lack of effort in Congress! How many men, women, and children without adequate health care, education, jobs. And this JACKASS wants more time at home?

Bipartisan? How is this helping those people? They could really give a rats azz if he EVER saw his family, because THEY NEED HELP! His personal life is IRRELEVANT to the more pressing issues facing AMERICANS! This is not a debate about something that is of concern to the masses! So pardon me if I call him a SPINELESS ingrate for the title that he has been given! He is a PUBLIC SERVANT! Hence the term SERVANT! YOU are at the mercy of the people who elected you, and their demands are your demands regardless if he sees little Susie’s play ot Timmy’s ballgame!

I have worked on the road, commuting 6 out of 7 days to ensure my son and daughters have the best I can provide. Yet this JERK is talking about flying, reading, debating, voting, and flying home…Ummm, yeah! That’s a valid argument! If Blackberry’s can be used in DC why not reverse that and have your district use that technology while you work for the people?

Oh and BTW, there was no opposition in this argument! It was a STUPID defense to think that ANY hard working individual would TRY to defend this IDIOT!

No opposition, just facts!

Here is what I read about voting (from the book Congress and Its Members by Roger Davidson and Walter Oleszek)

…”If members cannot vote in person…they may pair themselves with someone on the opposite side of an issue. Pairing is a voluntary arrangement that allows members to go on record without voting or affecting the final tabulation. The practice of allowing absent members to vote by proxy – entrusting their votes to an ally who is present at the session – hasd never been permissable in floor deliberations, and in 1995 it was suspended in House committees. During their forty years in the minority, House Republicans resented the fact that their members in attendance invariably were outvoted by chairmen voting the proxies they had collected beforehand from busy Democrats (though the tactic was used by both parties).”

So, I think that you are right that the Senate can vote by proxy in committee, but neither house can do so on the floor.

For a representative like Jack Kingston, whose district is made up of 29 counties, travel within the district to make speeches, hold meetings/hearings, and attend local events is very time-consuming.

He may have a geographically large district, but it’s not like members of congress go see all of their constiuents every week. My soon-to-be ex-congresswoman, Sue Kelly (yes, I’m proud to have the first professional musician in the House as my US Representative, John Hall) rarely made announced visits to our part of her district. Maybe she was in her “hometown” office, but she didn’t visit my part of her district often.

On the contrary, Members of Congress cannot be excused from attending sessions in the Capitol because they cannot vote by proxy. Because of this law, if a Representative wants to vote on an issue, he must be present during the voting sessions, which are often held late at night.

I believe that this is not entirely correct, though it mostly is. I believe that Senators can vote by proxy in committees, but not on the floor. I do not know if the house allows proxy votes on committee (except, of course, for the Committee of the Whole House). What they often did in the past (and this required honest participation by the members) was to find someone who was going to vote the opposite way and ask them to not cast any vote. This would “negate” both votes and keep either side from taking advantage of absences. I do not know if the Republican-controlled Congress still did things this way. And as for the late night votes, that’s because the Republicans scheduled the votes that way. They like to do that when they think the public won’t approve of what they’re trying to pass. I believe it was one of those late night votes that got their annual (unconstitutional) raises passed. (That might have been pre-1994 Republican takeover, and if the Democrats did it, then they were wrong, too.) They don’t vote late at night out of necessity; they plan it that way. (Sometimes so they can get away for their long weekends.)

God Damnit Nancy,you know my hemorrhoids can barely stand 3 days let alone 5 sitting on my ass!

ha ha ha

I`ll be cracking lobster,while you`ll be doing what commoners do best….

working weekends.

(champagne cork,buttered lobster BIG BIG belly laugh!)…………and a big thank you to all the plebians out there that made this all possible for me.

thank you for your support.

god it is good to be stinking rich.

You may be right that much of Members’ time spent in the district is spent fundraising. However, they also spend a great deal of time meeting with people about issues that are before Congress giving speeches at non-fundraising events (i.e. schools, town hall meetings, etc.). To quote a letter from Jack Kingston to reporter Jake Tapper,

“For example, last year I hosted 25 town hall meetings regarding Medicare Part D. The year before that I held 17 town hall meetings on Social Security. In addition I made over 200 speeches and meetings with Veteran groups, farmers, energy, tax, health care, educators, and environmental groups.”

I don’t want to suggest that Members of Congress do not do fundraising while in their districts, but I think that it is important to note that fundraising is not all that they do. For a representative like Jack Kingston, whose district is made up of 29 counties, travel within the district to make speeches, hold meetings/hearings, and attend local events is very time-consuming.

Also, to respond to CoffinsDrapedWithFlags:

You said in your post,

“I’m sure if a Congress person needs to attend to matters in person in their District, they will be excused from attending sessions in the Capitol. This is not what Kingston was complaining about. Kingston was whining about not spending time with his family. If that’s a problem for him, then he should resign.”

On the contrary, Members of Congress cannot be excused from attending sessions in the Capitol because they cannot vote by proxy. Because of this law, if a Representative wants to vote on an issue, he must be present during the voting sessions, which are often held late at night.

However, you are right in saying that this is not what Kingston is complaining about. Rather, he is complaining that a five-day workweek in Washington would prevent him from being able to go back to the district and meet with constituents. And yes, of course he said that marriages suffer. I don’t see how this fact can be denied. I understand that members of Congress are not the only ones whose marriages suffer, but does this make his point less valid? Are we saying that since the marriages of our soldiers and many hard-working Americans are suffering, the marriages of Members of Congress should suffer too? I certainly hope not.

When they come for Jane and me so they can lock us up in the renovated WWII Internment Camps, can we hide at your house?

Sounds like a plan. I need someone to cover my back, anyway. Besides, if they’re coming for you guys, I’m sure they’re coming for me, too.

Congressmen and staffers don’t just work when Congress in session just like actors don’t just show up for the production.

Apparently, the 109th Congress wasn’t working on the floor, in committees, back at home, or on the links at St. Andrews, either. I don’t think they were even rehearsing.

One more thing – how does he stand on any ground arguing family values when the Republicans have repeatedly rejected a minimum wage increase for the last decade (Kingston was solid in his “NO” vote every chance), sending another 6 million people into poverty since the start of the 21st Century?

What a putz. Vote him out, Georgia – you’re getting screwed big-time by a lazy weasel.

Besides working on bills such as anti-gay amendments, flag burning amendments, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and rubber stamping the frat boy cheerleader, what has the 109 Congress accomplished? Americans are still dying in Iraq, in a war based on lies, many Americans are without health insurance, the Federal deficit is out the roof, and Americans are losing their good paying jobs to “offshoring”. Seems to me that the 109 Congress didn’t give a rat’s ass about the American people.

“Impeach the cheerleader, save the world”