What Congress is Doing Right Now
Ask many a kiddo what their favorite part of school is and money’s good they’ll say, “RECESS!”
Interestingly, Members of Congress also have recess. In fact, at the time of this writing, the U.S. House of Representatives is on recess, and the Senate is on track to recess soon, if they haven’t already.
What, exactly, does recess mean for our politicians in Washington, D.C.?
For starters, it means they aren’t in Washington.
As some point, Congress got wise and rebranded “recess” to “district work period” since it is when politicians generally go home to be with the good people of their districts.
In district, they may do ribbon cuttings; eat burgers and pie at a local diner; meet with consituents; or visit a YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, bridge, fire station, sewage treatment facility they helped fund.
This will all be fastidiuously captured on their social media channels. Which is part of showing they aren’t spending recess on the monkey bars or dominating freeze tag.
This year, the entire U.S. House and one-third of the U.S. Senate is up for re-election. Politicians in tight races spend recess campaigning their hearts out: barnstorming every possible fair to eat deep fried Oreos or pickles or corn dogs, talking with farmers at a blueberry festival, waving from the back of a convertible or golf cart at a parade, meeting with the VFW or small business owners.
Recess does serve a function. Politicians are endowed with many powers; reading minds isn’t one of them. They do need to be with the people they represent so they have a feel for what’s cooking in the district. Which they ideally bring back to DC and legislate on accordingly.
And since we are some of the voters whose minds can’t be read, here are a few ways we can take advantage of recess to make our voices strategically heard:
Reach out to D.C. Congressional staff
These legislative assistants, policy advisors, legislative directors do the lion's share of the policy work. (There’s an old line that Senators are a Constitutional impediment to the smooth functioning of staff.)
When the boss isn’t in D.C., staff have more time to get caught up on emails, especially if those emails are respectful. Tips on how to contact staffers here.
Go to a public event your politician is having
Some politicians post online or in their newsletter (which you can sign up for on their website) about events they’re doing. If you go and there’s a Q&A, you may make headlines by creating a raucous. But you could make a difference by being respectful. I’m a lifelonger believer in going where there isn’t much traffic, and there’s a whole lot of open highway in the basic human decency lane right now.
One final note: if you’re reading this, I’m going to guess you’re quite engaged in our democracy. For which I say a big and warm thank you. And also this: Remember that you, too, deserve a recess. A true recess. As the poet Tony Hoagland once said, “Among your duties, pleasure is a thing that also needs accomplishing.”