Congress is Out of Touch

News Flash – Congress Is Out of Touch
The View from the Middle

Let me create a backdrop for what Congress has been doing for the last couple of weeks. The country is in a virtual lockdown. Everyone in the country has been asked to work from home and use the many teleconferencing apps like Tencent Conference, WeChatWork and Zoom. This, of course, is the ultimate in social distancing and the most effective way to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Recent surveys indicate that 90% of the country is following the “15 Days to Slow the Spread” guidelines. The other 10% should have their heads examined. I’m sure that 10% is full of 18-year-olds whose brains haven’t fully developed yet and, of course, our Congress.

My wife and I were sitting (more than six feet apart) this morning at home watching the news that Congress had passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) by a vote of 96 to 0. I was encouraged that bipartisanship had finally been displayed by our politicians in Washington. Then my wife asked me, “I thought we had 100 Senators”. I explained to her that four Senators were self-quarantining themselves. Rand Paul (R-KY) has actually tested positive. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have voluntarily isolated themselves because they had contact with Paul, and John Thune (R-SD) has gone back to South Dakota because he has displayed some symptoms. We don’t know his test results yet.

I applaud the Senators for their caution, but it also made me question the sanity of our congressional leadership. In today’s environment loaded with access to remote communications programs, why couldn’t they figure out how to let these four Senators vote on this massive and important legislation? The bigger question, given the state of our union and the Coronavirus, is why are the members of the House and Senate violating virtually every rule that they have asked us to heed. They are all performing, in my opinion, unnecessary travel. They are certainly having meetings with more than 10 people, maybe not while on camera, but certainly off. And I doubt they are abiding by the six-foot rule for social distancing. Why would they be doing this? The answer is simple. They are either stupid or so full of themselves that they think they are above all the rules they have put in place for the rest of us. And they aren’t stupid.

And now we have Congressman John Massey (I-KY, where the “I” stands for Idiot) is considering a delay of this vote in the House by demanding an in-person quorum and possibly even a roll call vote. This is the very definition of “anal retentive”, which I think can be more broadly applied to Congress as a whole.

Given the gravity of this situation, we should have expected our leaders to figure out how to allow these four Senators to vote remotely. The bigger question is, why aren’t they ALL at home tuned into Zoom or some other teleconferencing program to listen to and participate in debate and then to vote? They should be following the same guidelines they have placed on us. If they think a face-to-face meeting would help, use facetime or some other video conference app. Maybe not being together would actually speed up the process. Maybe Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Steve Mnuchin need to be there, but do we really need all 535 members of Congress traveling to Washington DC?

Then, I began to think. Why should they ever go to Washington given all the wonderful communication technologies that exists today? At a minimum, why wouldn’t they dramatically reduce the massive costs of their first-class travel, gourmet breakfasts, lunches and dinners, deluxe accommodations and $500 bottles of wine? Actually, as I asked myself that question, I realized that my answer was in my question. They’re not stupid. They have been turned into a pampered, privileged, out of touch assemblage.

There is another reason why developing a remote voting and virtual meeting capability would be good for “We the People”. It would force our governmental representatives to spend more time with their constituents and less time with the lobbyists on K-street. Personally, I think this would be a huge win for our country.

The reality is, our Congress is still operating as if it were living in the 1800’s. Back then, our Senators and Representatives would travel in horse and buggy for days, not laying down in first class airline compartments, because they had no other means of getting together. They would meet for a few weeks and then take the grueling trip back home to perform their “day jobs” and live with the legislation they passed. The Walmart associates would call this, “eat what you cook”.

Maybe this crisis will have some unintended positive consequences. If the Senate and the House have to change their rules to allow for remote voting, they should do that right now. If this emergency brings Washington into the 21st century, that would be fantastic. If it brought Congress closer to the people they represent and farther away from the trappings of big government and K-street, that would be a great thing.