Missing in Action: Dems Have No Plans To Reconvene House of Representatives Until May
Steny Hoyer says ‘Absent an Emergency’ House will stay home for weeks. “The move extends a prolonged recess that began in March 12, and it abandons a plan to reconvene on April 20.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) informed House Democrats Monday that they would not reconvene until May, barring some sort of emergency.
Do Democrats think we’re not in an emergency?
Cortney O’Brien writes at Townhall:
Dem Leader Explains They’re Not Meeting Before May ‘Absent an Emergency’
Does a pandemic that has killed thousands of people around the globe, shuttered the American economy and resulted in a nearly 20 percent unemployment rate qualify as an “emergency?” Not in the mind of Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. As he explained to the press on Monday, the House of Representatives would not be meeting again before May 4, “absent an emergency.” They had initially planned to reconvene on April 20.
Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner has more:
Democrats meet by phone after House postpones reconvening until May 4
House lawmakers won’t return to the Capitol until May 4 or later due to the threat of the coronavirus Democratic leaders told rank-and-file members on Monday.
The move extends a prolonged recess that began in March 12, and it abandons a plan to reconvene on April 20.
“Members are further advised if the House is required to take action on critical legislation related to the coronavirus response or other legislative priorities, members will be given sufficient notice to return to Washington D.C.,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told Democrats in a letter.
“Absent an emergency, the House is not expected to meet prior to Monday, May 4, 2020.” — Steny Hoyer email
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) April 13, 2020
HOYER to House Dems: “Members are advised that absent an emergency, the House is not expected to meet prior to Monday, May 4, 2020. “
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 13, 2020
The reaction on Twitter was swift:
Oh, luckily there’s nothing going on that could qualify as an emergency at the moment. https://t.co/Gz0DzUIlj7
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) April 13, 2020
Absent an emergency? Dude, where have you been? https://t.co/W3lBL65HU5
— Joshua Holland ? (@JoshuaHol) April 13, 2020
can someone please tell me how approaching 40% unemployment isn’t an emergency https://t.co/bTZhvMpm5k
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) April 13, 2020
Literally all 50 states are in a state of emergency.
— Zack (@ZackC428) April 13, 2020
It is a fucking emergency…my god https://t.co/AQlqYaRWRt
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) April 13, 2020
Not for Democrats.
They know that media will dutifully deflect any negative impacts of this to Trump instead of them.
What do they care? https://t.co/4WqaoHyimg
— RBe (@RBPundit) April 13, 2020
This is reminiscent of a scene in the 1985 film The Sure Thing. The two main characters are traveling to California during spring break and find themselves caught without money, lodging or transportation during a rainstorm:
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
Do they still get pay and benefits?
Of course
They’re not paid for sitting in the chamber all day. Even when the House is sitting, most of them are not there unless there’s a vote. They’re busy doing their actual jobs, which they can’t do when they’re sitting there listening to debates. And they’re still doing those jobs, so why wouldn’t they be paid?
Our daily dose of kvetching…
If it’s not elbowing their way in front of the television cameras, or grandstanding in televised hearings, I’m no longer sure I know what their job is.
Maybe the emergency won’t restart until the House IS in session. There are three more weeks of anticipation.
We may have dodged a bullet.
.
“can someone please tell me how approaching 40% unemployment isn’t an emergency”
I can tell you, Caleb Hull. 40% unemployment is not an emergency to the Dems… it is only a good start.
Good! The less Congress is together, the less of my money they are spending. At this point, it’s up to the states to get back to business. We don’t need Congress in any of this quagmire.
Don’t be fooled Buckey! They’ll still spend every penny of the money we have so graciously allowed them to control. Every single penny. And more.
Really, do they have to reconvene, at all?
How about they reconvene in April of 2050. We’ll see if anyone can tell they’ve been gone.
Unfortunately with the House now not reconvening until some time in May, now is not the time to breathe a sigh of relief, because if there is anything Democrats do well and in abundance, it is scheme
The only thing we’d need the House for is more spending bills, and the D’rats would just sabotage those because they don’t throw enough money at endangered fish or some such nonsense.
Chinese Bat research, they’d want to spend more on Chinese Bat Research.
H/T Gateway Pundit.
https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/shocking-us-gave-37-million-to-chinas-wuhan-lab-that-conducted-coronavirus-tests-on-bats/story/400831.html
Typical liberal tactic when things get how you nowhere to be found.
House to America: Drop Dead
Oops! Sorry about the accidental down vote. Let the lynching begin.
No emergency? Bastards!
How many of their constituents (federal, state, and local government employees) have been laid off or furloughed? None? Well, that explains their cavalier attitude doesn’t it?
It’s way past time to boil the tar and pluck the chickens.
I don’t understand. Of course there is an emergency, but how would their convening help with it? They said that if there is a bill that needs passing they will come back to pass it. What else could one expect?
Oh I don’t know, maybe some bipartisanship. That’s too much to ask for though when there’s money to be grifted.
What does that even mean? And what has it got to do with whether the House is in session? If you mean that they should negotiate the next bill in good faith instead of the way they did the last one (and every one before that), they can do that just as easily while in recess as while sitting. The negotiations don’t take place in the House anyway.
You know damn well a new relief bill for small businesses could be passed tomorrow if they really wanted to put aside the political games.
It’s really not that hard to figure out, Milhouse. Don’t be so dense. And they should be present for the vote, but Dems always want to find ways to make it easier to vote (and cheat on the vote).
There absolutely could be a bill passed through Congress by voice vote or unanimous consent this week if they wanted to, to give more money for small business relief. It’s the Democrats who are holding it up demanding money for other things. For the Ds bipartisanship is when the Republicans agree to their demands.
So in this case the Dems are using the health and safety of Members of Congress and thousands of staff as a bargaining chip to get their way on this small business funding bill. It will have to pass the Senate first, and they know that since it’s a GOP majority and they’d need 60 for cloture, McConnell can bring his whole caucus back to DC and it won’t make a difference if there are not 7 Democrats willing to show up and vote with them. That’s what happened with the $2.2 trillion bill; Senate Democrats stood in lockstep and refused cloture in order to try to add more stuff to an already-negotiated bill.
If there’s a bill to vote on, they’ll convene and vote on it. They said so. Now tell me how their convening for any other purpose would help.
I dislike using this language, but here he goes again, Mr. M being a haughty ass.
He does make a salient point, though. You don’t bring them back to just have them give floor speeches. There would be no committee hearings and no in-person meetings with anyone other than staff and other members. That is the majority of what most of them do every day when Congress is in session. Not only that, bring Congress back into session and you’re getting several thousand other people showing up too: the support staff, a larger cadre of police, the maintenance people, etc.
The DC metro area is still a hotspot. To have the lot of them in DC without them actually having something of import to vote on isn’t worth the time, expense, or health risk. With the advent of modern technology, they can do a lot of work, like holding meetings or getting involved in the negotiation of bills, while from home.
Hi P,
I think you mistook me. When it comes to Mr. M, I’m like a police officer that gives you a ticket just because he doesn’t like your attitude.
I’m no police officer, but Mr. M exudes an obnoxious haughty attitude, deigns to end discussions peremptorily, and thus, I don’t care if he tells us who cured cancer (‘coz he sure ain’t gonna be him), I’m downvoting him.
If he wants to pay me to tolerate his baloney, then I’ll quit downvoting him and pointing out what an obnoxious piece of work he is.
My House district switched to D in 2018. The Rep sent an email about having a town hall tonight. I just submitted a question about the delay to May 4th. I might actually listen into the session.
I suspect that the Ds will spend the time crafting an even larger bill than the list of demands that Pelosi brought up with the last bill.
The house can not screw things up and make worse when they are not in session
This gives them more time to campaign and fund raise at home.
The electorate needs to send a loud and strong message, vote them out, show them who holds the real power instead of being just a member of the corrupt flock.
We love to complain about them yet the same ones stay in office, often decade after decade.
From your keyboard to God’s ear…
Does Trump have the power to call Congress in emergency session?
If so then call them back. When in session, it turns out that several pages or assistants have COVID. Trump then puts Congress in isolation, with the condition they stay in Washington.
Find some sort of accommodations and keep them there until they all develop immunity.
“He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.”
So yes, but what would be the point? What good could it achieve?
U.S. Constitution – Article 2 Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Well, I suppose if you have no ideas it’s better to stay at home in the basement than to go to Washington to continue to fake doing your job.
It’s a shame these Dim loons can’t stay in recess until after the election.
So, they can’t Zoom like the rest of the world?
(I used to love that movie and that is the perfect scene.)
Of courae the House is on extended recess. The whole Dem agenda, at this point, is to remove Trump from office. So, not being in session makes it impossible for Trump, or the republicans, to get any legislation passed.
Now, everyone has to understand that the Kung Flu is NOT a bono fide crisis. It is still lagging behind the common flu fatalities that the world ignores every single year and shows no signs of producing the incredible death tolls forecast only a month ago. In fact, at the moment, it is showing strong signs of acting just like other seasonal corona viruses. The only COVID crisis, which exists, is the one created by the politicians at the behest of the media.It is the pols who have thrown the global economy into a depression which will take months or years to reverse. Their actions, in response to the virus, are either insane [possible] or an orchestrated plan to destroy the burgeoning economy, both the domestic US economy and the global economy, [very likely], thereby making the populace even more dependent upon the state for survival. The political class, the media and the Establishment are simply showing that they are the “enemies of the people”.
Spot on. 100% accurate.
Don’t underestimate the role of Congress’ Attending Physician in keeping Members of Congress away. He has a big say in it right now, and if he was told that there needed to be a short session he’d be giving them lots of advice on how to conduct it, like what happened a few Fridays ago when the House passed the $2.2 trillion bill.
Furlough the lot of them, all 535 in the House and Senate. We’ll survive.
And without pay or benefits- just like the rest of us not at work due to this mess!
Trump should have their offices cleaned out and turned into housing for the homeless, addicts, illegals, etc.
Self-awareness is not a Dem trait! What Hoyer just uttered absolutely describes the Democrats of today! “Absent an emergency” is perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever heard from a ranking pol in my lifetime.
An emergency? Tell that to Lying Donald Trump. This from Connecticut astute governor:
https://patch.com/connecticut/westport/s/h2yyo/lamont-to-trump-stop-throwing-verbal-hand-grenades?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert
If Trump can’t stand the heat in the White House, he should do the nation a favor and resign now!
Correction- “A stupe” when referencing Lame-ont
Not Sage.
We need a pro-American second party and the only viable candidate – because of the Democrat and Republican violation of anti-trust laws – is the democrat party.
We aren’t like England, where Nigel Farage could create and new party and – Voila! – obtain a place on the ballot and win enough votes to win enough seats to govern.
The politicians will never apply anti-trust law to themselves, so the only workaround we have is to make them both be Pro-American.
We’re exactly like that. And the same obstacles to doing it here are what kept his party off the ballot over there, which is why it didn’t win any seats. Namely, that splitting the Brexit vote would have elected Corbyn.
More Obby-Noxious Mr. M.
I swear, when are you and Miss Law-Itis getting married??
I’ll sending a wedding gift: A can of “Off – Deep Woods” for the discerning couple.
mr.m kind of reminds me of a banned member who always spelled it tRump and had a fatal case of TDS.
I heard he’s moved to another board and was equally loathed and panned.
I guess when no one else wants to hang around with you the internet is always there.
You can drop dead, you loathsome piece of filth. You admit that you are not interested in the truth or in discussing issues but are only interested in personalities. Well, you took it personal so that’s where it is. I never take any disagreement personal, but if you take it there I will reply in kind. So go to Hell, literally, and burn.
America is MUCH SAFER when its democrats are not in Washington, D.C.
This seems to me to be a curious position that the d majority leader of the HoR is taking: namely that the normal operation of the HoR is in essence not essential.
To be clear I am not opposed to that concept, in fact I agree with it. Where the majority leader and I disagree is the timeframe. I believe that the vast majority of what the HoR does is not essential and should be curtailed, while Representative Hoyer seems to believe that the HoR is nonessential only during the current pandemic. A situation in which we have idled the national economy and where the requests for additional funding in support of previously agreed to legislation is not being met due to, IMO, partisan political disagreement with the administration.
I am sure that we all appreciate the ‘courage’ on display by our elected representatives which stands in stark contrast to the actions of the Continental Congress who pledged their live, their fortunes and their sacred honor. If these elected officials are too fearful of a virus that from current reports, is fatal in less than one percent of infections and in which apparently less than 15% of the people are being infected then they should be honest enough to admit that and resign their office and from public life.
Many states have not held primary elections so these cowardly members could conceivably be replaced on the party primary ballots and certainly on the general election ballots. That they choose not to do so speaks volumes, IMO.