Let's see: New Orleans is in ruins, Iraq is in disarray, Republicans being indicted and investigated, Mother Earth is exacting revenge for our horrible environmental policy.....sounds like we need our representatives hard at work to fix the various messes we find ourselves in.
Right?
Nope. The Boston Globe is reporting that House Speaker Dennis Hastert will delay convening the 2006 session of the House of Representatives until January 31 in order to give Tom Delay more time to fight the charges against him and return to leadership.
Extended vacation on the flip....
I think the Dems need to make hay of this one. According to the
Boston Globe, House Speaker Dennis Hastert will
delay convening the 2006 session of the House in order to
allow Tom Delay to dispose of the charges against him and regain the leadership. This is being reported at
Think Progress as well as the
Daily Delay.
Now I took a little look see into past opening dates after the Holiday Break and voila! there does appear to be some manipulation going on here. The first session of the 109th Congress convened on January 4, 2005. In 2004 and 2003 the Congress opened on January 7.
The Globe reports that
In addition, Hastert has scheduled the first House session of 2006 for Jan. 31 -- after a holiday break of more than a month, and two weeks after senators are due to return to Washington. The late start gives DeLay, a Texas Republican, a greater amount of time with which to dispose of the charges, as new leadership elections could not occur until the House is back in session.
Now, the rest of the article is worth reading, pointing out, as it does, the general division and disarray of the fight for House Republican leadership. One last snippet:
Beset by a series of high-profile scandals, House Republicans are increasingly looking to usher in 2006 with a new majority leader to give the party a fresh start with voters that could help avert potentially devastating midterm elections next year.
The sentiments, which are starting to bubble up from the party's back benches, make it less likely that Representative Tom DeLay, whose indictment on money-laundering charges will almost certainly last into the new year, will return as majority leader.
Seems to me that Hastert's game playing may just call attention to Delay's problems. Maybe they shouldn't ever come back....