Both Rep. Jerry Moran and Sen. Sam Brownback for a period of time lived in an apartment house near the Capitol that is owned by a Christian group known as the Fellowship. Several other members of Congress did, as well. Complaints have been filed against them, charging that the rent they paid was so low that it amounted to a subsidy, which is against Congressional ethics rules.
The complaints were duly examined and found baseless. End of corruption story.
There is another chapter to this story, however. Brownback and Moran belong to the Tuesday through Thursday club. Members don’t maintain real homes in Washington, D.C. They commute to the capital from Kansas, leaving wives and children here and spending Tuesday through Thursday doing the nation’s business.
Three days on, fourdays off — one day of which is pretty well shot flying to and fro.
The T-T club is so large that Congress, itself, is a Tuesday through Thursday institution much of the year.
Unethical? Not according to the book used to make that judgment. But many students of Congress say that the practice plays a significant role in the changed nature of the institution. They say that leaving the wife and kids back home sharply reduces the so-cial interaction among members. Since they don’t have real homes in Washington, they don’t invite fellow members over after work or on the weekend to share a meal, play cards and visit.
In the days before a member earned $160,000 a year — and thus can afford to fly back and forth from home state to nation’s capital every whipstitch — members actually became friends. Their wives knew each other. Their kids romped together.
As a consequence, the halls of the Capitol were a much more friendly place. Democrats still voted one way and Re-publicans another, but the level of partisanship was much lower.
IT IS ALSO possible that much more work would get done in five days than three and that it would be easier to stay focused on the national agenda staying in Washington.
The standard response to arguments like these is that keeping the family home in Kansas or Georgia or Vermont and commuting every week keeps a senator or representative stay in touch with the people he represents. Moreover, they like to say, coming back home every Thursday evening and staying until Tuesday morning keeps them in touch with “the real world” and counteracts the “poison of Washington.”
The proper answer to that line is “bull.”
First and foremost, the people back home don’t really have that much to teach their senators and representatives about regulating banks, dealing with the war in Afghanistan, pressuring China to let its currency float, making certain the Social Security and Medicare systems stay in operation or deciding if today’s farm subsidy program is really good for the nation — or finding the best answer to any other national problem.
And then there’s the more obvious point that no one seems to consider. How come no one is in charge? Why is it OK for members of Congress to set their own work schedules? What if some decide that a two-day week would suit them better than a three-day week? Would they still get paid the same? The answer must be yes.
MAYBE IT’S TIME to start fresh. For $160,000, or maybe it’s $170,000 by now — they get step-increases every year — a lot of people would be willing to work a full five days a week and put in a little weekend time, too. With today’s communication marvels, they wouldn’t have a bit of trouble keeping up with what’s going on in their home districts and states. No place is more than a mouse click away these days.
And if they had to live in Washington for real, perhaps coming home to the wife and kids every night would take some of that edge off their personalities and make de-bate on the floors of the House and Senate more civil.
Be worth a try.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
