[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24776]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED? NOT REALLY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, it is 4:10 and we have finished the work of 
today. Should I be surprised? I wish I wouldn't be surprised. I was 
going to give the new majority a chance to get their sea legs in about 
6 months to manage the floor so that we would work throughout the day, 
but I continue to get disappointed at our early departure hours from 
the floor.
  I have got numerous dates from throughout the year where we have 
stopped work: January 11 at 3:26 p.m.; 17 January, 5:52 p.m.; 23 
January, 2:40 p.m.; 4:23 p.m., 2:44 p.m., 2:28 p.m., 4:58 p.m., 3:01 
p.m., 2:51 p.m., 3:21, 3:46. Yesterday I think we left work at 3:30. 
Today we leave work at 4.
  The problem, Mr. Speaker, is that just because we are here more days 
a week doesn't mean we are doing any more work. Many of us who would 
like to be home to visit with our constituents or be home to visit with 
our families would say let's work in the evening, let's work at 6 p.m., 
let's work at 7 p.m., let's go to 10 p.m. By golly, let's go to 11 
o'clock at night. Let's be brave. Let's be courageous.
  We know there are many issues that the American public want us to 
address. We heard the concern from my colleague just before. But where 
are we? We're done for the day. No more business. Now it is just 
Members coming to the floor and speaking what is on their mind. What is 
on my mind is we ought to be about the business that we are sent here 
to do.
  I understand the new majority, and I wanted to cut them some slack on 
the first 6 months. Five days a week. Let's work. That's fine. But now 
we're past that time. Now we should be able to say: The days we are 
here in Washington, let's work. Let's start at 10, let's go to 6, let's 
go to 8, let's go to 10. Let's get our work done and then allow 435 
Members to go back to their districts to do their town hall meetings, 
to visit with their constituents, to take care of the business.
  Not only that, but most of us live at home. Most of our families live 
in the districts we represent. We can't be good fathers, good mothers, 
good parents when we are stuck here at 4 p.m., 4:10, nothing else to 
do, just wait for the next workday to begin.
  So, Mr. Speaker, my simple point is, if we are going to work here in 
Washington, can't we please go back to working in the evening? I don't 
think that is too much to ask for.

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