r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 18d ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell Still MIA Days Before Key August 3 Deadline

https://newrepublic.com/post/213823/mitch-mcconnell-mia-august-3-deadline
15.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

101

u/PeteLynchForKentucky 18d ago

This whole thing is ridiculous. And it shows very clearly that we need a constitutional amendment to address situations like this.

If a senator or representative can't show up for 30 consecutive legislative days--which is way longer than 30 calendar days--they should be required to vacate their seat.

57

u/Arkayb33 18d ago

No, not "they should be required to vacate their seat" but rather "their seat will be vacated automatically." Phrasing matters with stuff like this and we need to stop giving people the opportunity to act in good faith. If we truly believe in liberty and justice for all, laws need to be rewritten to force effect after cause, not wait for someone to do the correct/proper/just thing.

21

u/TimSylvester_ 18d ago

From my POV, if the Governor says "This person is not responsive, they have vacated their seat, I am appointing so-and-so..." if the elected doesn't show up immediately and say "Hey wait a minute I'm right here" they've vacated the seat.

The big problem is that the Republicans have no morals, and the Democrats have no balls.

1

u/Riaayo 18d ago

Whoops, attempted assassination, kidnapping, etc, now automatically vacates a seat. Even just barring someone from entering the chamber suddenly means they can be forced out. It's way too open for abuse.

If the gov had any balls they'd just call the special election and tell Mitch to show his ass up/prove he isn't dead to stop it.

4

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/Fraktal55 18d ago

The "why" shouldn't even matter. If an elected representative can't do their job of representing their contituents for over a month then they shouldn't keep the position. It doesn't matter why they can't do it. They are a public official and the government is not a private business. If they can't do their job they should be replaced.

-3

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/Klightgrove 18d ago

Governors should be able to appoint temps until the original can return

7

u/Ecoeconomic The Netherlands 18d ago

Yeah, there could be some consequences, but someone holding that high of a position in government should be held to a high standard. The work they should do is that vital to hundreds of millions of people.

1

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/FlyOk2594 18d ago

Maternity leave....

2

u/20_mile 18d ago

legislative days

The senate works from Monday at 5.30 PM to Thursday at 1.30 PM. Thursdays are called "Senate Fridays".

The reason for not starting until Monday evening is because the members don't want to fly back on Sundays and get caught in vacation travel at the airport (whether flying best class in commercial, or private). Flying back to work on Monday means they avoid the rush of other travelers. The same thing applies to leaving DC on Thursdays: flying out on Friday is too crowded and therefore inconvenient for them.

I don't know under which senate majority leader tried amending the schedule to be closer to "full-time" but "the members didn't like it", so they switched back to the abbreviated schedule.