Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Lawmakers 2/23/1984 - Congressional Absenteeism
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Paul Duke reports some Congressmen trying to make points on the fact that others are out campaigning and the House chamber is empty. Absenteeism
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Representative Mark Siljander (R - Michigan) You and I are sitting on the Floor here today, an empty chamber, having no votes been taken, nothing productive done.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Representative Bob Walker (R - Pennsylvania) Mr. Speaker, I take the little tie here today to call the attention of the members of the House to the fact that we are 1:30 in the afternoon and we have completed our legislative schedule again for today. I raise this again as I have on several previous occasions to ask whether or not we are really going about the nation s business.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Paul Duke intro guest Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky) and discussion of absenteeism. Paul Duke, Senator, must the members be away so much, so early in 1984? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Well Paul, you have to look at the situation. You have all of the House members that are up. You have one third of the Senate is up. And most of them are Republicans this time, 19 to 14. Well Paul, you have to look at the situation. You have all of the House members that are up. You have one third of the Senate is up. And most of them are Republicans this time, 19 to 14. You have a Presidential year. A senator is Chairman of the Republican Campaign Committee, so that becomes involved. The leadership on the Senate side, I will not talk about the House side, but the leadership on the Senate side has already told us we ll be out 65 days. That means 13 weeks and they control the Senate as it relates to when we re in, when we re out, when we vote and when we don t because they have 55 Republican votes and 45 Democratic votes. So it appears that with the President saying if you want to balance the budget, you cannot touch the defense appropriations. You cannot increase the income to the federal government. Those two things being out, we might as well pass a continuing resolution, go back home, and allow the people to see us more often than they do now. Paul Duke, Are you saying then it s going to be non-business as usual in this election year? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Well I m afraid so, but hopefully it will not be. The deficit of $200 billion, the budget we have now, it would be devastating to the country if we allow it to continue. We have to do something about the budget. If the President is going to sit there and veto it, then we have to send him something to veto. That s my opinion.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Cokie Roberts, You ve talked about passing a continuing resolution and going home, but isn t that exactly what the Republican leaders of the Senate have been saying they want to do - go home in July and spend all that time campaigning? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Well. That s true and there s a little madness to the method - as we would say in Kentucky. They re behind. They re in trouble. A good many of their Senators have less than 50% approval rating. So they have to go back and campaign to improve their position. They want to be out. How they could say that we do not want to look at Lebanon and the situation there, how we should not touch the deficit this year, not worry about Central America - these sort of things are just foreign to me for the leadership of this outcry to say - we re not going to do anything this year, it s an election year, and we re not going to bite the bullet. They should bite it this year, but I understand what s going on.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Cokie Roberts, A lot of people didn t want to vote on things like Panama Canal in an election years either. I wonder tough about some of the nuts and bolts of this election year. I ve noticed being out on the campaign trail, I see a lot of my friends who are Congressional staffers, working in various Presidential campaigns. It seems to me every day I get an invitation to a fund raiser with 25 Congressional names on it. Is there a lot of time just taken up, on the part of staff and members, in the campaigns? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Well, as far as staff is concerned, they should be off the payroll or they should put in their 40 hours in the House and then hours beyond that they can help their Congressman. If you ve been receiving invitations to fundraisers, welcome to a large crowd. It s one for the toughest years I ve seen yet and it s going to get tougher, I think, in the future as it relates to fundraising because every time you turn around, it s another election. In two years, we have the House up again, we have a third of the Senate up and state races, all of these things, and then the Presidential race moves in. And it s very devastating I think to those of us who are not involved in the Presidential race just trying to, as we would say down home shore up our own back that we start to work. And we say, well we ve had 15 invitations from 15 different people and now we re receiving invitations from the same people again to send in money. Money is becoming a very large factor in campaigning. Look at 1982; we lost some very close races, about 5 with a total of about 40,000 votes. We were unable to pour in the money at the end of the campaign, as the Republicans were and they were able to squeak out about 5 of those races. So, money becomes very important.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Paul Duke, You talk about biting bullets and the White House biting the bullet, is it very different for Congress to bite any bullets during an election year? Because isn t it very difficult for many members to take a stand on controversial issues? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Paul I think that s true, but I ve only been in Washington now this is my 10th year, I find a mood now that is somewhat different. They are convinced that we have to move this year and not wait until next year. I think you re going to find a lot of people are going to stand up and say - Country s bigger than party ad we think we ought to go ahead and bite the bullet now. There may not be enough to do that, but I think the mood is there, the opportunity s there and the President ought to lead us in that direction.
Lawmakers Feb 23 1984 Congressional Absenteeism
Cokie Roberts, Very quickly, aren t there also a few things that come to the floor that are there just for political reasons? I mean you had death penalty votes this week, you ll have school prayer next week, aren t those there for political reasons? Senator Wendell Ford (D - Kentucky), Oh, I understand that very well. And we ll vote on abortion and busing and all those things every time some of the Senators can have an opportunity to bring it up.