Can you imagine if there were a once-in-a-hundred-year emergency at a major corporation, and the key leaders responded by saying, “Well, we’ll get to it in a few weeks from now, because we had this five-week vacation planned, and, well, you know, we’re forced to go through with it.”

This is not too far off the mark with what the 535 members of Congress have just done. They went on their traditional summer break Aug. 7 in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and won’t be back until after Labor Day, which this year is Sept. 7. Members of the House of Representatives were called back in session briefly over the weekend to vote on an emergency funding bill for the U.S. Postal Service. Then the members went back home. Although it passed in the House, it is expected to fail in the Senate, which did not come back to Washington.

This pandemic, the worst since the Spanish Flu of 1918-19, has killed more than 175,000 Americans and has infected more than 5.7 million others. In Pennsylvania, there have been more than 125,000 people infected with the virus, and about 7,600 have died.

Yet, the American people don’t seem to mind. I am livid, and I want everyone else to be angry, too. In doing research for this column, I was further floored to find that in 1970 Congress enacted a “mandatory” five-week break for itself beginning in the first week of August, part of the Legislative Reorganization Act.

Fifty years ago, when the law passed, there were many younger lawmakers with children coming into Congress, and they wanted a more predictable legislative schedule.

Currently, though, there is a more expedient political reason for this break, especially coming as it does starting about three months before a major General Election.

Not only is there a presidential election, but all 435 members of Congress, including Dan Meuser, Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright, who represent parts of the five counties in the Times News area, and one-third of the 100 members in the U.S. Senate are up for election. Neither U.S. senator from Pennsylvania - Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey - is up this cycle, because both are still in the midst of their six-year terms.

Well, the way I see it, even with a “law,” there is nothing to say that Congress can’t declare this an emergency which requires their on-the-job presence and efforts to resolve this national crisis.

Millions of Americans were eased off a financial cliff at the end of July when their enhanced $600-a-week unemployment benefits that went into effect in March to counteract the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ran out.

What could be more important than helping these desperate families as their financial obligations come due without a significant lifeline? True, they do continue to receive unemployment benefits from their respective states.

Pennsylvania’s regular unemployment benefit is about half of a person’s full-time weekly income up to $572 a week for 26 weeks.

Members of Congress were unable to broker a deal, and as the clock ticked closer and closer to this summer recess, there were some optimistic murmurings from House, Senate and administration negotiators, but then everything came to a standstill with no deal in sight.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion relief package in mid-May. It took two months for Senate Republicans to agree to a $1 trillion plan after intense infighting among various factions in the party. Some even oppose any new federal measure at all because of the soaring national debt that has ballooned after previous relief plans.

With no agreement in sight, President Trump weighed in with four executive orders, one of which would provide a $400 supplemental unemployment payment, but $100 of it would come from the state. An administration spokesperson later clarified, however, that states don’t have to fund an additional $100 a week, because the unemployment insurance payments they’re already providing can qualify as their $100 “match.” Pennsylvania has applied for the $300-a-week benefit, but is not kicking in the extra $100.

With this monumental job to be done, our legislators should be holed up in Washington until there is a deal, regardless of how long it takes.

So lawmakers are back home working on their own re-election efforts or helping either Republican Donald Trump get re-elected or Democrat Joe Biden to win the White House.

Over the years, legislative sessions have gotten longer. From 1789 through the 1930s, Congress was in session just six months. In fact, until the early 1900s, the position was not full time, so lawmakers could have another job for the other six months of the year. Time magazine famously said, “a member also trained as a butcher could, theoretically make laws and sausage.”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com