How many days of sick leave do Congress Members get?

December 2, 2022

It’s not what you think.

Members of Congress are covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) just like all civil service employees. They DO NOT have unlimited sick leave but they do have a very generous policy.

CS employees (including Congress Members) receive 1/2 day for every pay period of paid sick leave. They are paid 26 times a year so they receive 13 days of paid sick leave per year. This sick leave can be used for an illness or to take care of an ill family member.

Sick leave can be accrued. So if you do not take sick leave you can carry your 13 days into the next year. At retirement the remaining unused sick leave can be added to your time of service. It is not unusual for employees to have 6-12 months of unused sick leave at retirement. It’s a good policy to save your sick leave in case of a serious illness.

In case of a severe illness CS employees can use their accrued sick leave followed by an advancement of up to 30 days. After that they can use their vacation days and when that is depleted they can ask for vacation day donations from other employees. CS employees tend to be generous when their coworkers are in need.

So when you hear about members of Congress bitching about giving Rail workers, or anyone for that matter, 7 days of paid sick leave, just remember that they are a bunch of government sucking, whiny little, greedy ass, stingy bitches.

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Posted by johncoby

Texas by the numbers. (it ain’t pretty)

September 5, 2022

Greg Abbott has begun his campaign attacking Beto O’Rourke. It’s all he has. Abbott can’t run on his record but Beto can and probably will. After 20 years of republican rule in Texas with 8 years as Governor, here is Abbott’s record:

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Posted by johncoby

The loser of the #DemocraticDebate: Medicare for All

September 13, 2019

Stick with me for a second.

Back in 1989 VP Dan Quayle called for a trip to Mars. Everyone was excited by the bold, courageous announcement….until they learned the price tag and realized it was technically impossible at the time. 20 years later nothing has changed.

Medicare for All is similar. The activists of the left, led by Bernie Sanders, is giddy as a freshman going to the jr/sr prom about the idea of M4A but they fail to realize they are not the only ones that will determine the nominee and their ideas. The other voters in the Democratic Primary understand how much it will cost and are uneasy about how much it will cost them. They realize it is not feasible anytime soon. It’s one thing to call for a bold and courageous endeavor like going to Mars or Medicare for All. It’s another thing to have the money and the ability to actually make it a reality.

Sanders can’t make it a reality. Sanders has a long history of not being able to champion major legislation. He is the last person who could make M4A a reality. Warren, even with a better track record of accomplishments, has hitched her wagon to this boat anchor and eventually it will cost her.

The other candidates call for an improved Affordable Care Act with various options to allow consumers to choose their coverage. Biden, Amy, Beto, Castro, Buttigieg, Harris, and even Yang who doesn’t know his ass from a stethoscope called for a combination of Medicare and the ACA. It’s a better plan that is achievable.

Medicare for All is not for everyone. It shouldn’t be. It’s on life support.

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What we want to hear tonight at the #DemocraticDebate

September 12, 2019
Pic via NBC News

It’s Texas. We are in play this year. Our republican leadership has failed us on immigration, gun violence, health care and bleeding local governments dry. We need help. Tell us how you can help.

We are tired of mass shootings in Texas where we have guns on demand. In just 6 short years we have lost students, shoppers, worshipers, bystanders, and police officers due to gun violence using military style weapons. We are tired of wondering if we will be next. Our leadership calls for thoughts and prayers and round table discussions. The thoughts aren’t working. The prayers go unanswered. The round tables end in no action. They have done nothing.

There is a humanity crisis on our borders which our leaders have ignored year after year using it for campaign fodder instead of solving the issue. Trump has made it worse. Horribly and deadly worse. Again we need adult supervision.

Our healthcare costs continue to skyrocket even after we passed massive tort reform 15 years ago with the promise of more healthcare providers providing more competition and lower rates. It didn’t work. We have the highest number of uninsured in the nation. Costs are too high. Our state is sick.

So tell us what you are going to do to end the violence, solve our humanity crisis on the border, and to insure our families are cured when they are sick and stay healthy.

We are listening.

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Before you praise Dan Crenshaw….

November 13, 2018

You might want to look at Dan Crenshaw platform before ooooing and ahhhing over him.

  • Guns on demand. As with his party he talks a tough game on background checks (only) but his party will not do anything. Other than that it is guns on demand for everyone. Want an Uzi? You got it!
  • Military spending. He supports Trump’s military build up and his attack on our allies.
  • Supports the tax cut. He supports the tax cut for the 2% which has cratered the deficit.
  • Supports cutting Social Security. In order to pay for the tax cuts he supports cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare. All to appease the 2%.
  • Abortion. No surprises here.
  • Immigration. Supports building the wall, separating families, and trump’s immigration plans.
  • Religious discrimination. Believes in discriminating of those who have different religious beliefs. He calls it “Freedom”. The freedom to discriminate.
  • School Vouchers. He supports school vouchers allowing the rich to pick and choose their own schools.
  • Free Speech. He believes we are too “politically correct”. Whatever that means.
  • Healthcare. Yells SOCIALISM every chance he gets. He wants us to go back to the way it was before the Affordable Care Act. His positions have all been shown to be bad ideas and have never been implemented for good reasons. He basically has no idea of what he is talking about. Lucky for him and his family, they are covered for life by the US Military.
  • Doesn’t believe in climate change. Nothing to see here. Typical anti-science republican.
Crenshaw was given a great opportunity to look like a human being on Saturday Night Live. He made the best of it acting like he is the middle of the road, let’s come together, blah blah blah, type of guy. He isn’t. 
NOTE: I was incorrect. The Houston Chronicle Endorsed Todd Litton not Crenshaw. 

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Rebooting the Harris County Republican Party

November 13, 2018

The out going Harris County Judge, Ed Emmett, says the Harris County Republican Party needs a reboot after getting a boot shoved so far up their butt their breath will smell like Desenex for the next two years. Emmett waited a bit too long to finally speak up.

I’m sure the HCRP is not interested in very pointed ideas coming from a former Republican but here are some ideas they might want to consider:

  1. Dump Trump. You made a mistake in 2016. Trump has turned your party into a group of racist, lying, cheating, conspiracy theory, rotten assholes. That stench might be hard to wash off but wash you must.
  2. Don’t be racist. It’s sad someone has to tell you not to be a racist. Racism is bad. Really, really, baaaaad. Not only should you not be a racist you should speak out against those who are., immediately and forcefully. Your party tolerates and condones racism. That must stop.
  3. Stop acting like a bag of dicks. Seriously. Why do you have to praise people like Sid Miller the mini trump of the Texas Republican Party. Can’t you at least act as if you have the title “The Honorable” in front of your name?
  4. Don’t call women the C word. Again. Why do we have to tell you this? You are not in Jr. High. Grow up and treat women with respect and call out those who don’t. If you are a republican woman who is condoning this type of behavior maybe a course on self esteem is warranted.
  5. Stop suppressing the vote. Everyone citizen has the right to vote and should have the right to exercise that right. You act like you want to restrict voting by making it harder to register and harder to vote. Stop it.
  6. Dump the NRA. They have become a boat anchor. Americans are tired of being shot. High school kids are rising up for this issue alone. You are on a long term losing path. Even the NRA was silent during this election. They are hurting you. No one is coming for your guns. Start acting like it.
  7. Stop lying. No one is coming for our guns. There isn’t an invasion coming from the south. There is no voter fraud. There is no need for a voter ID. There were no WMDs. Stop lying to your party members.
  8. Stop spending money. What the hell happened to the “Fiscally Conservative” party? Our country under republican rule now has a $1Trillion deficit just so your party could give your donors a huge tax cut.
  9. Embrace health care. No one wants to mortgage their house to pay for treatment for their kids. Your health care plan has failed. 
  10. Stop saying “Conservative”.  And finally, you are not conservative. Stop saying your are. You no longer have conservative or family values. As I have said before:

Conservatives do not mock the disabled.
They don’t create massive out of control deficits.
They don’t make jokes about those dying of cancer.
They don’t violate or ignore the laws of our country.
They don’t tolerate sexual abuse.
They don’t tolerate family violence.
They don’t interrupt people while talking.
They don’t call people names.
They don’t say racist things.
They don’t refer to Native Americans as “Pocahontas”
They don’t make fun of other peoples language.
They don’t call people of color “rapists”.
They don’t call Muslims “terrorists”.
They don’t endorse hate groups, the KKK, or white supremacy.
They don’t disrespect elected officials even those they disagree with.
They don’t lie. Every. Single. Day.
They don’t walk around with loaded assault weapons in public.

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TX Congressman Pete Olson's health

October 31, 2018

I have written about Pete Olson’s pre-existing condition that will be covered regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit that could end coverage for everyone else but after watching the video below I am wondering if Olson is all there. Watch the first part then move to 8:10 to watch how he reacts to one of the few attendees of his meet and greet. She questioned his use of “Info-American” in reference to his opponent and to his reference to the chant “CNN Sucks”. He looked rattled.

Olson was my Congressman back in 2008. During his few years representing NASA, before he moved to Sugarland to take advantage of the gerrymandering, Olson was instrumental in losing a United States Space Shuttle to New York as well as losing major integration facilities to other states.

Olson has put on weight. He has strange mannerisms. He looks like he is just going through the motions. His speech seems to be slow. His eyes sunken. Maybe the fact that a relatively unknown, exciting, opponent who is incredibly qualified for the job, has never ending energy, has been endorsed by the Houston Chronicle, and has worked district has gotten under his skin.

Win or lose I hope Olson will take a few weeks off and pay attention to his health because he looks like a pile of hammered dog poo.

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