Congressman Kevin Hern believes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team don’t want too much work to get done next year. He is critical of the House voting scheduled for 2021 which was published this week.
“It’s no wonder Congress has incredibly low approval ratings – we barely work!” said Hern. “Speaker Pelosi announced the vote schedule for next year and it rivals 2020 for the least amount of legislative workdays we’ve ever had. It’s bizarre and dangerous to keep lawmakers away from Congress for so much of the year. While I enjoy my time in Oklahoma and appreciate every opportunity I have to meet with my constituents, I know that they elected me to serve them in our nation’s capital. They sent me to Congress to work hard, but with so few weeks in DC, it’s difficult to say what we can realistically accomplish next year. With such a narrow margin between the majority and minority, every bill is going to need input from both sides. As we’ve seen this year with COVID relief, bipartisanship is much harder to accomplish than one would hope.”
Hern hopes that Pelosi will revise the schedule.
“I urge Speaker Pelosi to reconsider this schedule. After our legislative agenda was hijacked by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, we should be placing a high priority on legislative workdays and voting days next year, giving us the best chance at a full recovery.”
