Jim Hightower: Some Congress critters deserve a permanent vacation

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http://www.jimhightower.com/node/8321#.U2gSYSiZneN

Some Congress critters deserve a permanent vacation
Monday, May 5, 2014 | Posted by Jim Hightower
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They're back. They're rested. They're ready!

Our Congress critters, that is. They've returned to their workplace after enjoying a badly-needed, two week, Easter vacation. After all, it had been a full four weeks since their last vacation in March, and meanwhile they'd been doing a lot of heavy lifting. You know – passing a jobs bill, raising the minimum wage, and extending longterm unemployment benefits for millions of desperate folks who've been unable to find jobs. Yessiree, our legislative leaders have been working like mules to strengthen America's hard-hit middle class.

Oh, wait. My mistake – they haven't passed any of that stuff. In fact, the GOP House, along with Republicans in the Senate, have been working overtime to kill any bills to lift up America's workaday families. Still, as you might imagine, killing bills can plumb tucker you out, so those lawmakers (or, in this case, law killers) undoubtedly needed a break.

Sure enough, now that they're back at the Congressional grindstone, they seem full of pep, ready to say "no" again and again. Only a week after returning, for example, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell rose up on his hind legs, mustered a burst of negative energy, and zapped dead a Democratic proposal to hike America's minimum wage. As a result of Mitch's legislative labor of love, millions of hard-working people will remain stuck in poverty-wage jobs for the foreseeable future. Who benefits from such a Dickensian effort? McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, Taco Bell, and other multibillion-dollar giants that profit by holding down their own workers.

The widening chasm of income inequality in our "Land of Opportunity" is no accident – it exists and grows worse by political design. Americans would be better off if those designing lawmakers just stayed on vacation.