Democrats Find New Way to Calculate an Hour
House Democrats raced Thursday to the finish line of their “first 100 hours” agenda well before their 100 hours clock ran out. They celebrated like there was no tomorrow. With more than 57 hours to spare, early Thursday evening, Democrats passed the last of their “Six for ’06” plan — a renewable energy measure that adds $15 billion in new fees, royalties and taxes for the oil industry.
“We have passed an agenda which we promised the American people we would pass in the first 100 hours,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. “No matter how much fun they make of it, no matter how many different ways to count it, we made it within our first 100 hours.”
The hours were clocked by measuring only the amount of time Congress debated the six items since convening the 110th Congress on Jan. 4. Republicans complained that Democrats were able to whip out the six bills in short order because they did not allow Republican involvement in the debate.
Well that’s an interesting way to calculate a working day. What if your employer only paid you for the actual time you sat at your desk? Every bathroom break, coffee break, lunch, anything not at your desk would stop the time clock. If we only pay our elected representatives for the hours of debate, we’d be saving a hell of a lot of money.
Thank you Nancy and the rest of the Democrats, you found a new way to calculate time! Gee, did they really do anything else?
Posted: 1820PST 01/18/07
autone.wordpress.com
An Angeleno's View of the World 
In the real world, time is calculated just about as you describe. Who gets paid for a lunch break? No one I know of. Other breaks are OPTIONAL and do not have to be given. Clock in to the minute, can not arrive more than 5 minutes early or leave more than 5 minutes late. So the Dems are using the business model better than the Business Elite — oh but I forgot, the Republicans also count golfing at St Andrews…..
MrDecider seems to be making up time rules :)
Yes lunch (for some) is not counted and breaks (while ‘optional’) are required by law in an eight-hour day (and paid).
When you goto work, clock-in and clock-out at the end, you get paid for all that time, no matter what you were doing.
The democratic congress clock only started when they ‘debated’ a bill. Not when they were talking about it, not when they were deciding that Republicans couldn’t add amendments and not when anything else was going on.
In the ‘business’ model you quote, that would be: You walk into work and do not get paid until you start typing (if typing was in your job). The moment you stop typing (perhaps to talk to a coworker, walk to the storeroom for paper, etc) you stop getting paid. That’s not how the business model works.
Then they should only be paid for 47 hours since they were sworn in to start violating their oath and the constitution.
Can someone explain the difference in what they are doing to the American oil industry and what Putin and Chavez have done to theirs. Why do we say that they have nationalized their oil industry (socialism) and the U.S. congress just increased taxes (aka ripped off the American people).