Roy Cooper: “my colleague from New Jersey who just spoke is exactly right. This Congress, this year, this House of Representatives…”

“my colleague from New Jersey who just spoke is exactly right. This Congress, this year, this House of Representatives will probably meet fewer days, fewer hours than any Congress since 1948. President Harry Truman called that Congress the Do-Nothing Congress because it did almost nothing, and it only tried to work for about 110 days out of the whole year of 365 days. We will meet for substantially fewer days than the Do-Nothing Congress. So how do you do less than nothing? Sadly, the American public is about to find out. Now, how does the schedule happen? Well, in the House of Representatives, it is set by the majority party. They can choose. They can make us work a long year or a short year, or a very short year as they have decided to do this year. Now, why are we meeting for so few days? Well, it is not because taxpayers back home aren't paying us a full-time, full-year salary. We are making the same pay. But yet we are able to spend 9 or 10 months of the year back home in our districts. And I love that. My wife and kids are back home, I love being home 4 or 5 days a week every week. But I am worried about America, and I am worried that this House is not confronting the problems that America faces, because the workweek here in Congress is really too short to even be called a workweek.…”