House to Take Up Democrats’ Surface Transportation Bill & Form January 6th Select Committee

@Leslie. Wouldn’t you love to make a six-figure salary plus health care benefits and paid-for staff in exchange for working less than 1/3 of a year? I say less than because much of their “work day” is spent fund-raising for themselves and their party.

I will be happy or not, depending on what happens. Question: by burying symbols of the Confederacy, are we setting the conditions for it to be forgotten? Maybe it would be better to add reminders of those who stood on the other side of the argument. Statues and busts do not have to honor or idolize - they can memorialize and remind, too. Many of us on this site have never experienced true poverty, although I feel sure many have. For those who have not, posts on this Reddit thread provide food for thought beyond the mythology around poverty and those who endure it. Reddit Thread: “What do most people not understand about being poor?” As a child in poverty, how little opportunity you have, so many extra curricular activities cost money that just isn't available, I grew up in a trailer park with a crack addict mum & an alcoholic dad. If I wanted to do something it had to be free & I usually had to forge my mums signature on permission forms. We never had food, I learned to shoplift by 2nd grade. Winters were cold. I still excelled at school, because it was my escape from a shitty home life. I got taken into the foster care system, but I never got adopted, I was in a sh*tty group home, the only way out was to get a job & prove that I could live independently, so I left school at the end of 8th grade & got 2 jobs, cause the wage for a 14y.o.is sh*t, I got signed out of the system, I loved & valued education, so I signed up to do my school certificate & higher school certificate through technical college via distance education. I worked hard & did well, I applied to medical school & smashed the UMAT test. When I got to the interviews, everyone else had all these stories about the community work they did, or learning trips overseas, they'd all had tutoring. It dawned on me that while I was working 60+ hours a week to make a living, these people had been doing things to get a leg up, cause they could, cause they had resources I never had. Being born into poverty is like starting the race 10m behind the block with a broken leg. And you can't even get to whatever free activities are available in your area, because you have no transport. There's no spare money for gas, your parents are working long hours and aren't available to drive, they can't afford to buy you a bike, you've got no extra money for the bus, and the streets aren't safe enough for you to walk. I can't just 'quit my job' to 'find something better.' Interviews take time that I don't have. I can't just skip work to go for interviews "Poverty is not just bad decisions — poverty is an ENVIRONMENT. It's bad roads. It's poor city and county governance. It's a lack of generational wealth. It's a lack of access to a grocery store, a doctor, a bank lender, a dentist, plumbers or electricians, a lawyer, a school, a car lot, both financially and geophysically. It's despair in your landscape through forgotten and abandoned buildings that once housed businesses and families, now left to rot, while you're too poor to leave. It's watching others struggle while you yourself are unable to help, because you can’t keep your head above water either. People who aren't poor don't understand how the expenses stack on top of one another all the time. Your car breaks down, the cat needs to go to the vet, you find out that your financial aid DOESN'T fully cover your tuition now that you're at university and not community college... All of this, in a never ending barrage one after another, on top of regular bills. That's why the people who go "jUsT sAvE mOnEy" piss me off. When you're at a certain level of poverty, you can't because you're always on the knife's edge between survival and not being able to pay bills. You need every dime you have and then some. The fear. Fear of something unexpected you haven't budgeted for. Fear of a knock at the door from a debt collector. Fear of having to choose which of your children can eat more than once today. Fear of having to choose which days you go hungry so your children can eat at all wife and i have agreed to always pay rent on time. That way if we have to skip a meal or two at least we are warm and safe. Just because you're poor, that doesn't mean you automatically get welfare. You can make just slightly over the line and still be poor. My mom only made $1,000 a month, but it was still too much to get welfare That being physically safe is a luxury, not a given. It can be dangerous to not be conscious for a couple of hours. When you're homeless and sleeping somewhere, you're not thinking about tomorrow; you're thinking, 'What if I get woken up, and there's a knife to my face?' When we save up money, something happens that forces us to use that money we had saved, which starts a hard-to-break cycle. When you get government assistance you're not allowed to save up, it will be taken off of what you get. Especially when you have a disability.

It may already be too late to prevent the Greenland land ice cover from melting and raising the ocean levels by 23 feet - and the destruction of coastal cities and increasing severity of weather cycles which will follow. Siberia recently registered an unprecedented surface temperature of 118 degrees F. Time is running out. … … … Yet, this country continues to ignore the obvious and refuses to fund preparing for the future. If we had risked grossly underfunding our world war 2 efforts, we would all be speaking German today. If we continue to grossly underfund our effort and do not get started now to slow and reverse the Climate Crisis we will lose this ‘war’, but will not all be speaking German in a few decades - there won’t be that many of us left to do much ‘speaking’ at all. … … … The House has a lot of good work scheduled from protecting the lives of Afghan Interpreters and their families, protecting Inspector’s General ability to do their jobs without politically motivated interference, launching a true investigation into the January 6th insurrection, and further developing programs to solve problems and help protect the future from the increasing ravages of the Climate Crisis.

#1. I am tired of the long recesses that Congress allows itself…a big reason why legislative progress is so slow! #2. Get Trevor Howard the hell out. of Russia #3. Work on the For the People Act. #4. Nancy Pelosi needs to appoint members of Congress to the committee to get to the bottom of 1/6. Don’t ask McCarthy to suggest trumplicans who will sabotage the work of the group.

Leslie G: The Republican Senate has been rope-a-doping the Biden Administration ever since he was elected. They have no good arguments for his very popular and widely supported initiatives other than grunt slogans: "too costly". Ok, how and why, how much is too much? ; "will destroy our country", again just how, exactly? ; Will destroy the economy", OK, but what do leading economists have to say about that? ;"socialistic" OK, Just how? and in what ways would that be bad? and so on. … … … Outside of diversionary topics casting mountains out of mole hills (a cheerleader's right to cuss, critical race theory, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato head) or blatantly lying about Democratic legislation, the only thing left is to rope-a-dope the Biden Administration which has lost several months by their actions. Refusing to get his transition team in place or access to needed government resources for almost two months after his election, The interminable delays in getting key administration positions confirmed and many positions yet to be confirmed has cost months. The "lets be bipartisan folly" which to date has only proposed $585B in new infrastructure spending IF it can get past our scourge to democracy's bull crap filibuster - has cost a couple of months.… … … The bipartisan commission for investigating the January 6th insurrection which took time to negotiate and met all Republican requirements only to be filibustered to death. (Oh and supporters of the filibuster; Just where is the dialogue and bipartisan debate to find a better way to do this investigation? There is NONE. The filibuster as it is defined today, is a one and done blockade which terminates any further deliberation). We are continuing to waste precious time by playing the Republican Faction's war games. Unless we get moving and really get some things done, the midterm arguments will be that the Democrats did not accomplish anything but Republicans will deliver on all those things (Like they did during the last midterm elections with promises of a great new health care program for everyone- something they never bothered to even consider actually doing or even look into doing). … … … The Republican faction will continue as it always has and the democratic party will let them retake the government and install their autocracy unless the Democratic Party realizes the the Republican Party no long exists as a rational political party anymore in it's never ending quest to win re-election by any means no matter how costly or unethical. Stop letting them do this! Get your house in order and reign in those who are preventing needed legislation to be put in place. You will not be judged by anything other than the value of your accomplishments to meet the needs our country - the rest is just window dressing which can and should be discarded if it blocks your view of what is truly needed.

I am happy with the H of R, but wish the Republicans would wake up out of their zombie-state and join in to find out the root and circumstances of the January 6 insurrection.

Gosar's siblings want their brother kicked out of Congress. They think Democrats are moving too slow They are 100% right! Democrats wake up. There is no such thing as bipartisanship. Stop behaving like wimps. Clean up this garbage / scum before the stench subdues the whole country

Glo: Hey there girl. I am doing the best I can. Stuck doing a lot of home repair crap - things keep breaking, dammit! Wife has another bulging disk and will likely be going for surgery soon. Microwave dinners and carry out looms large for the the future. … … … How are you doing? I miss you when you when I do not see you comment for awhile.

Fantastic idea, John! And he should be dis-Barr-ed from EVER practicing law again, as well as jailed for his criminal behavior!

“Bipartisan” Infrastructure bill is just another Democrat farce. It’s a means to use the reconciliation process to add all of the other Progressive wishlist of the 6T original infrastructure bill into this bill. VOTE NO!!

Hey, jimK! How are you my friend? Fantastic comments, as usual! 😊❤️😊❤️😂

So they are only scheduled to work 158 days! Thank you for that info, Leslie! 😊❤️😊❤️. Do you people realize that is nearly half of a year they get paid to do NOTHING but campaign for more money for them to continue ripping us off? That is OUTRAGEOUS! Who else in this country, gets paid to ONLY WORK HALF A YEAR? BOY, THEY SURE HAVE US BY THE BALLS, DON’T THEY? THIS NEEDS TO STOP. IT IS TIME THEY STAY UNTIL ALL THEIR WORK IS DONE. MORE LIKE WORKING 11 MONTHS A YEAR! So they get paid a pretty outrageous salary for only working half a year. DISGUSTING!

This is off-topic but I want it out there, Bob bar should be forced to forfeit any profit he gets off the book he’s putting out to help reimburse the lives of the 500,000 people he helped kill plus all the damage to the capital in the lives that he disrupted and ruined in the course of that attempted overthrow of the government. Bob Barr the complete pig is equally responsible as Trump lock his ass up along with Trump.

@Leslie wrote: "...The sickening part is that the Senate schedule actually has more days in 2021 (158 days) versus 2020 (145 days). They have been a bottle neck to both administrations.” Read the full comment here: https://www.causes.com/comments/1479900 OMG! You are still whining about days spent in chambers! That's irrelevant!!! I want my Representatives and Senators to be working on solutions, not rubbing their sore butts because jerks like Matt Gatze or Ron Johnson or Joe Manchin are mouthing off stupid nonsense for the camera on behalf of their corporate masters. I want my Representatives and Senators to be doing research, analysis, and problem-solving, dealing with their respective committees and subcommittees like Ageing, Agriculture, Energy, Forestry, Livestock, Nutrition, Science and Technology, etc., etc. Then they need to garner support from fellow Reps & Senators. We'll get nothing done until Trump, McConnell et al. run their course, and we have the American people push for competent, efficient governance. So time in chambers is of secondary importance. If any given Representative or Senator is known to be a waste, then they must be exposed and impeached or voted out. Note: This applies to 99% of Republicans! They produce so few proposals much less full blown pieces of legiislation.

Terrific, Kathy! 👍🏻😊❤️👏🏻

GOP Republican senator Bill Cassidy Louisiana suggested that the infrastructure issue of crumbing road and bridges are a woman’s problem, because his wife’s belief woman do all the shopping? I don’t know who is dumper for the statement? Sounds like an elitist statement, with out reality. So we should have Women pay for the roads and bridges, instead of corporations and commerce? Another elected Republican Official. You wonder about the people that elect them? Maybe this will give you a clue. A 61 year business owner said January 6 was not an insurrection, but the most peaceful gathering? People were injured and died, plus extensive damage was done! Not sure what business he is in? What ever drugs these people are taking, they need to get a refund.

Tick tick. Need to get Biden’s agenda passed STAT! Both chambers have way too many days off for the amount of work they actually accomplish considering what they get paid!!

They’re on vacation again Nothing will get done this week That’s how I feel about their schedule No more breaks until we get things done or at the very least started

It is probably useless to say but I hope those in Congress that supported Trump and his terrorists followers will do the right thing. If I attacked my Capitol I would have to pay the price but then, I love my country and care more about it, than politics. So many harbingers of ill will and hate from people like Greene, Cruz, Hawley, Johnson, Jordan and the rest of the White Supremacy, the Proud Boys, Quanon. I never realized how much hate there was in America and I for one am very worried about the world for my children and grandchildren. I am also amazed at how many of the politicians are so cowardly and I no respect for those named above and for many more.

The Senate goes into ANOTHER recess yet again, even as GOP state legislatures are working tirelessly to make voting harder, even as scores of Biden’s executive and judicial nominees languish in committees, and even as dozens of House-passed bills are put on freeze on the Senate floor! Unless Democrats cancel their August recess, they are just procrastinating like there is no tomorrow!