Oops, I Guess My Pants are on Fire!

Statement

On Saturday, I told you that Congressional Republicans canceled the October legislative session and will begin a 45 day taxpayer-funded vacation starting on September 2nd.

Well, you probably spotted the obvious mistake in that statement and realized that September 2nd has already come and passed. The Congressional recess ordered by Republican leadership will actually start this Friday, September 21st.

However, I realized that is not the only falsehood in my original statement. You see, I incorrectly assumed the House Republican leadership would allow Congress to return to work directly after the election since there are at least a dozen pieces of legislation that must pass before the end of the year in order to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff, thus leaving a small window to complete a great deal of important work. Also, we can expect the Republican controlled House to take additional recesses for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays; therefore, the legislative window will be even smaller!

So, when will Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor actually allow Congress to get back to work? Not until Tuesday, November 13th!

If you are keeping track, this means House Republicans decided to take a 52 consecutive day taxpayer-funded vacation starting on September 21st! It also means members of Congress will receive nearly $25,000 each as part of their annual salary while taking another undeserved taxpayer-funded vacation!

I'm not perfect. I got the facts wrong in my original statement, rated myself as "pants on fire", and thought it was important to correct my error even though I wasn't called out on it. I've learned a Congressman who represents the interests of his constituents really just needs two things: Truth and Courage. These are qualities I believe I possess in abundance and have continued to demonstrate throughout the campaign.

Here is what I'm sure I got right: that as your Congressman, I will oppose and vote against any and all Congressional recesses longer than 72 hours! You deserve a Congressman who works hard to create ten of millions of American jobs by rebuilding and modernizing our country's infrastructure, not one who spends months on vacation and accomplishes nothing of significance while the legislature is in session! We are all in this together and I'm the only candidate in this race with a real jobs plan that will strengthen our economy by putting millions of Americans back to work and increase our global competitiveness by modernizing our infrastructure.

Now you should know, Gus Bilirakis' Congressional vacation coincides with multiple upcoming candidate forums already scheduled. This means Gus and every member of the U.S. House of Representatives has plenty of time to debate their opponents. You can view the debate schedule at the bottom of this message and call Gus' office at 727-216-6495 and tell him to have the courage to debate. Even more importantly, you can show your support for job creation, economic stability, and common sense solutions to our numerous problems by attending the debates yourself and spreading word of our campaign.

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