Should Congress return to Washington?

ATLANTA — Congress should either stay in session or travel the country and hear from constituents. It’s all a matter of perspective.

While President Obama on Thursday said Congress doesn’t need to return to Washington, one Congressman from Georgia took time to lambaste the Senate for adjourning for August.

“You know, in the aftermath of this whole debt ceiling debacle, and when the market’s going up and down like they are, there’s been a lot of talk in Washington right now that I should call Congress back early,” Obama said today in Holland, Mich. “The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C. What I figure is, they need to spend more time out here listening to you and hearing how fed up you are.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said Republicans in the House have “passed multiple bills aimed to lower energy costs, rollback ruinous regulations and get our debt under control.” Concurrently, Democrats in the Senate “have failed to act on these responsible pieces of legislation, and they have refused to offer substantive plans of their own,” Price charged.

“Over a year after President Obama declared that we were entering into a ‘recovery summer’, our economy continues to struggle just to stay afloat,” Price said in a statement. “Unemployment remains high and just last week, for the first time in history, our nation’s credit rating was downgraded.

“While the Senate chose to adjourn for August leaving many House-passed proposals on the table, the Obama Administration could take steps on their own today to begin instilling confidence in our economy,” Price added. “President Obama can implement a federal hiring freeze to help save money and avoid a further increase in the size of government when we cannot afford the one we have right now. He can implement a moratorium on federal regulations. This would help ease the uncertainty among job creators who currently cannot safely predict what future impediments and costly mandates they will face. Finally, the President can immediately and responsibly push for more energy exploration here in the United States which would mean more jobs here at home as well.  Rather than slow-walking the leasing process, the Administration should work to break down the barriers to domestic energy production right away.”

On the road today, Obama added: “That’s why I’ll be traveling to a lot of communities like this one over the next week. That’s what Congress should be doing — go back home, listen to people’s frustrations with all the gridlock. Listen to how frustrated folks are with the constant bickering and the unwillingness to compromise and the desire to score points, even if it’s at the expense of our country. And if they’re listening hard enough, maybe they’ll come back to Washington ready to compromise and ready to create jobs and ready to reduce our deficit — ready to do what you sent them there to do.”

For more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/11/remarks-president-johnson-controls-inc