Help Guys... Today We Watched John Stewart

[busterbrown]

in Congress just lambasting House members for not renewing aid to 911 First Responders.. Many Responders were sitting/standing in the room while Stewart launched his attack.....Only 3 members of Congress were in attendance...Stewart almost had a breakdown when he admonished to those who were in the room the fact that Congress has such little interest in "our heroes" since only 3 showed up.

Man.. I ask what was the deal with only 3 members showing up??.. The 3 were Dems! but where were the rest of them.. Makes no sense that every Dem. was not present... An Ideal Moment in time to show the people of our Country what scumbags Repubs are.

I'm missing something here..

[underpants]

1. The rest were across the street making donation request phone calls

I don’t really mean that as a joke either.

[busterbrown]

3. Sounds about right! n/t

[mr_lebowski]

2. Looked like 4-5 Dems (Nadler and those to his left) and two Rethugs ...

Johnson and a lady in a red dress.

Jon was MAGNIFICENT, man ...

[Ligyron]

16. I hope more will show up for the Impeachment hearnings.

[StarfishSaver]

4. I love Jon Stewart and really appreciate his passion. But he was a little off base with this

There were more than three members there. And most of the subcommittee members attended, but many of them came in and out - which is very common given how double and triple stacked their schedules are.

The committee and subcommittee hearings schedules aren't coordinated and the hearings almost always take place concurrently or overlap. Members frequently go back and forth between hearings so they can try to attend all of their hearings and meetings. Even if the Member is out of the room, their committee staff person stays and listens, takes notes, etc.

I can understand Stewart's frustration - and I agree he should be furious that Congress hasn't acted on this bill in 18 years, but I don't think it's fair to lambaste them for not all being present for this hearing at one time or for stepping in and out of the room since they don't do that out of disrespect but in order to juggle the obligations of their jobs.

[Takket]

6. Prioritize and make the time...

Not that complicated.

[cwydro]

9. Bingo.

Spot on.

No wonder he was angry.

[StarfishSaver]

10. Actually, it can be pretty complicated

Everyone thinks their issue is more important than all of the others. If the Members "prioritize and make the time" to attend only one hearing, the hearings, issues, witnesses and constituents who get completely ignored are also rightly upset.

Since you don't know what other issues, committee hearings, votes, etc. they were dealing with at the time, it's hard to say that they should have prioritized differently.

I've worked for Members who literally ran back and forth between hearing rooms, then to the floor, across the street to their office and back to the hearing trying to cover everything. I've brought constituents to anterooms to meet with them when the hearings ran over and dipped into the time they were supposed to be meeting someone in their office - and had to dance around explaining to the constituent why the Member doing a quick meeting with them in a side room off the committee room wasn't a diss or an insult, but their representative trying to juggle lots of different responsibilities on a day that got jammed with unexpected activity.

As I said, it can be pretty complicated. And unless we know what they were juggling today, we can't beat up on them for managing their schedules the way they did.

[onenote]

8. Correct. According to Steve Cohen, all but two of the members of the subcommittee attended

the hearing for at least part of the time.

[spanone]

5. Jon was brilliant. Without him, I don't know who would be advocating for these victims/heroes.

[malaise]

7. I am so glad that he is getting coverage

everywhere - this is very important. They are hypocrites.

[blogslut]

11. You've got it reversed

It was 3 Democratic members who did not show up:

Link to tweet

Avi Bueno
? @Avi_Bueno

Best I can tell, these reps missed the 9/11 hearing:

Dems
Eric Swalwell: @RepSwalwell
Sylvia Garcia: @RepSylviaGarcia
Victoria Escobar: @RepEscobar

Repubs
Louie Gohmert: @replouiegohmert
Jim Jordan @Jim_Jordan
Guy Reschenthaler @GReschenthaler
Kelly Armstrong @RepArmstrongND

[busterbrown]

12. I can swear he stated only 3

were present...... Mind not as sharp as it used to be..

[EarnestPutz]

13. I love John Stewart but his was a cheap shot. It was a subcommittee hearing in the...

....full committee hearing room, so there is always going to be many empty seats, and like others have pointed out, Congressman run in and out of committee hearings all the time, often to other committee hearings on which they sit.

[a kennedy]

14. and you know of this how??

[EarnestPutz]

15. The Congressional Record of the day posts each hearing and it's location. I looked. I checked.

Why the poop emoji?

[Raine]

18. I believe it's their avatar not an emoji

it's got Trump hair.

[a kennedy]

17. Oh crap, I just saw your "John Stewart".

It’s Jon Stewart