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Thursday, January 03, 2019

116th Congress Convenes in D.C. Today


Democrats have control of House of Representatives while Republicans still lead Senate. Nancy 'we have to pass it to know what's in it' Pelosi(D) is set to be elected Speaker of the House.

Uh, but I heard on reliable authority that the government is shut down. 

According to the WSJ, it's the 1st time in U.S. history a congress has convened during a government shut down.


Perhaps if Congress didn't get paid during a government shut down (like their lowly staffers), these pissing contests would get resolved sooner, or avoided altogether.

But who are we kidding? These self-serving congress critters exempted themselves from the wallet raping, rationed care fuster cluck of Obamacare, so exempting themselves from a paycheck (or platinum plated pension) will never happen.

And don't believe this horsecrap that the Constitution forbids them from not getting paid during a shut down. It's not true. While  Article 1 Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution does stipulate that members of Congress "shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States" - 'to be ascertained by law' is the key phrase. Congress can make almost any law it desires to regulate itself.

In fact, "Lawmakers have repeatedly tried to pass legislation that would freeze Congressional pay in the event of a shutdown, but such a bill has yet to pass both chambers of Congress." The last such attempt was 2017. It went nowhere.

That's it, boys n girls. The government is shut down, but Congress is in session, the military is fully funded, as is the border patrol; the sun is shining, the birds are singing, all the roads are open, along with all the stores; my 95 y.o. dad received his SS check on time, my wife received her military pension as usual, and my disabled adult son got his disability check like always. But the government is shut down and we're all gonna die because Orange Man bad. Or something.