GOP lawmaker seeks 'virtual Congress' with telecommuting plan

Not a fan. I've seen legislators past and present comment that the recent inability of the two sides to get along is due, at least in part, to the fact that they don't interact socially. Whereas in the past most of them lived in DC and would go out together socially after the business of the day was done, now many return to their home districts at any opportunity and as a result don't have the bias towards cooperation/empathy that you'd have with people you count as friends.

If anything, I'd like to see the opposite shift, where legislators are required to be in DC and maybe, just maybe, sit down with each other over beers and get something done. Right now the biggest problem isn't a lack of connection to constituents, it's an inability to work with colleagues.

This is a terrific idea if it means that people become more open to expanding the size of Congress, an idea which is currently met with objections like 'Oh, but then we would need to build a bigger building'.

The Congress of the United States is absurdly small in relation to our population and absurdly unrepresentative as a result. The British House of Commons, which represents a country of 63 million persons, has 650 seats. The Canadian House of commons has 308 members (rising to 338 next election) representing 33 million persons. The entire US Congress, including the Senate, is only 538 seats, representing over 315 million persons. The House of Representatives has not been expanded since 1911 and the population of the United States has increased by 200 million since then.

Anything that makes this more achievable is worth having. The bonus of giving Congressmen the ability to work from their district in direct communication with the electorate is also worth having.

I'm generally a pretty big fan of remote work. I think it reduces overhead, can increase productivity for the right person/teams, and ultimately frees up time for the employee which they return in kind to their employer.

Congress is not an industry I would trust to be away from video monitoring, however lame it may very well be.

Here is 2013 House Calendar: http://i.imgur.com/oxkekO2.png The dark days, 126 in total, are when they are supposed to be working. Catch CSPAN on a lame bill and see how many of them show up. Now imagine what it would be like if those pesky cameras weren't there and/or an aid could dial in.

So now the lobbyist can sit behind the teleprompter.