They’re back. They’re
rested. They’re ready!
I’m talking about our
Congress critters. They’ve returned to their workplace after enjoying a badly
needed and two-week-long 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 long-term 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-ruled House and Senate
Republicans have been working overtime to kill any bills that might lift up
America’s workaday families.
Sure enough, now that
they’re back at the congressional grindstone, they seem full of pep and 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 the
Kentuckian’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?
Big corporations.
McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, and other multibillion-dollar giants profit richly
by starving 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 some members
of Congress would just stay on vacation and never get back to work.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org