I found Alabama representative Bradley Byrne’s Wall Street Journal op-ed sadly amusing:
For nearly two months, my staff and I have been fielding calls from the people of southwest Alabama—small-business owners, bankers, seniors and many others. The government’s response to coronavirus is affecting their livelihoods, and their congressman may be the only voice they have in Washington. But when the lights are turned off in the committee rooms and on the floor of the House, who’s watching out for them? Who’s holding Washington accountable?
More important than the flawed message Congress’s absence sends to the American people—that their representatives value personal protection over their constituents’ interests—is the reality. When nobody is around, it is easier to make backroom deals, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi is taking advantage. She has consolidated the power of the institution in her person. Without lawmakers there to speak up for their districts and influence the legislative process, Mrs. Pelosi has made herself the sole voice and negotiator for the House, as it passes massive funding and regulatory bills.
Allow me to elucidate. When Rep. Byrne began his tenure in the House, Paul Ryan was House Speaker. Ryan was an unusually weak Speaker. The awesome power of the Speaker of the House he’s describing is the norm; Ryan was the exception. Speaker Pelosi is doing the same things she was doing during the last period during which she held the Speaker’s gavel.
Welcome to the House of Representatives, Mr. Byrne.
