Republican House to Extend Its Paid Vacation

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

At a time when a growing number of Americans don't know where their next meal is coming from, members of the Republican dominated US House of Representatives are preparing to take yet another week of paid vacation - their ninth week off in a row - all of which follows several weeks that they took off in August.  The last time the House took a formal vote on anything was September 19th.

While it is true that many of the members would better serve their constituents by never going to "work," for $174,000 per year they ought to at least have to sit in their offices and answer the phones - and keep the plants watered.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana and the man who ultimately decides when the House will and will not "work" (and I use that term loosely!), put the House on vacation in September, just days after its annual August vacation ended, and has said the members will not go back to work until the government reopens.

(The nation's air traffic controllers, all of whom ARE NOT getting paid during the shutdown, are the ones who should be on vacation, and the other federal workers who are missing their paychecks.  Congress IS getting paid, but they are the ones enjoying all the time off.  Well, them and the President who is also still getting paid and still managing to golf on the public's dime every weekend.

What the hell is wrong with that picture!

Speaker Johnson, the man who is keeping the House on paid vacation, and President Trump, the man who is perpetually on vacation, both blame Democrats for the shutdown and use that as the excuse for government's abysmal performance, yet it is Republicans who steadfastly refuse to come to the negotiating table in an effort resolve the situation.

The real reason Johnson continues to keep the House out of session is so that he will not have to swear-in Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona who was elected to fill a vacancy on September 23rd - nearly seven weeks ago.  Ms. Grijalva will be the deciding signature on a petition that will force the House to direct the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.  There are certain political forces at work trying desperately to keep the records of the pedophile sex-trafficker under wraps, and Republicans, in particular, do not want to have to go on the record either supporting OR opposing the release of those records.

So Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and the moral compass for that body, kicks the Epstein can down the road by refusing to swear-in Rep. Elect Grijalva until the House comes back in session - and then keeping it out of session for as long as he possibly can.

Mike Johnson, who in the past has called for "maximum transparency" on matters relating to Jeffrey Epstein, has an IOU to the American peeople stuffed deep in his pocket, and that bill is past due.  Sooner or later Mikey will have to man-up and do his job, the job he is being paid to do - even during the shutdown!

RELEASE THE DAMNED EPSTEIN FILES!