Congressional Deadwood – How Many Weeks of Vacation? More Arguments for Term Limits

Congressional Deadwood – How Many Weeks of Vacation?  More Arguments for Term Limits

Congress adjourned for 5 weeks effective August 3^rd. Congress adjourned again today until after the election in November. That equates to 10 weeks of vacation in 3 months. During that time they accomplished…..nothing of any consequence.

If any member of Congress worked in the real world, he or she would be held to some measure of productivity and have to participate in the annual performance review process which determines, in no small measure, if one will be eligible for a salary increase or, in some cases, a bonus. Those who don’t meet their performance goals are often given notice that performance must improve if one is to keep one’s job.  In recent years, the merit increases have hovered around 2%. Most Americans earn between 2 and 4 weeks of vacation for an entire year plus 11 to 13 paid holidays and must schedule their vacations around the preferences of more senior workers.

Members of Congress vote themselves pay increases, take exploratory trips at our expense, and adjourn for weeks at a time to work at nothing more than trying to get reelected at taxpayer expense.  In my humble opinion, they should all be put on a performance plan or probation.  And, they should not be able to adjourn when critical business is pending just to pursue reelection. Congress should have to meet certain goals. The fact that this Congress has adjourned with sequestration hanging over the nation shows just how worthless they are. Any member of Congress with even one cojones would insist on staying until the work was finished….elections be damned!

There should be a mechanism for throwing all of the bums out. It is still beyond my comprehension there are no term limits for members of Congress. If there are term limits for the elected office of President, there should be term limits for members of Congress. If it is constitutional to have terms limits for the president, it is constitutional to have term limits for members of Congress. (in my humble opinion)