As we come to the end of the year, so-called “lame duck” sessions of state legislatures mull about and make plans to vacation. In Virginia, Democrats retain a 21-19 majority in the state Senate until the new year, when Republicans will take over control of the House of Delegates. Some people would like those Democrats to do their job and pass a law or two while they still have the majority—maybe just one law that might protect some of the basic rights that are threatened by the conservative minority rule taking advantage of our country’s lack of constitutional policy. But it seems that the vacationing part of December is of more interest to state legislators in the Democratic Party.

Reproductive rights advocates have been calling on the Old Dominion legislators to pass a law that would protect the right to choose whether or not one wants to have an abortion. According to The New York Times, the biggest hurdle is that some Democratic lawmakers already bought plane tickets to go travel and stuff. State Senate majority leader Richard L. Saslaw is on his way to Hawaii but told an interviewer while on a layover in California that there’s nothing to be done as he and other state legislators are “not going to be able to get back; flights are booked this time of year.” But don’t worry: Saslaw explained that he and other Democrats “discussed it,” and felt that “There are too many people out of town.” 

Besides being the excuse equivalent of my son saying he has video games to play and that’s why he can’t finish his homework before it is due, the entire job these asshats have is to pass laws that better the lives of the constituents that voted for them. They have all sworn an oath to protect our Constitution and work to make sure that they do everything in their power to protect our democracy.

Now, in the Democratic Party’s defense, not all of these legislators are shitty people. Many of the younger members of the party, aware that they have a job to do and were elected to do it, want a session to take place. Democratic Delegate Sally Hudson points out that Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin is a Republican and his political party seems to have no problems with taking away people’s basic human rights. “We’ve got two years to do our job each term, and I don’t know why we wouldn’t use all the time to do our jobs during that term. If not for Roe, for what?”

On the other hand, you have people like Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds who is all, ‘I am a coward and don’t want to put in the hard work it takes to do the thing that my political party says it will do for people.’ Here’s what he really said: “You’re in the holiday season — some people are making plans of being away. What’s your reality of getting people to Richmond, and what’s realistic to pass that we haven’t already passed?” 

The Times spoke to others who say part of the problem is that the Democratic establishment in Virginia had not really imagined their candidate Terry McAuliffe would lose the governor’s race and so were ill-prepared to “go big” in the weeks after the election. Of course, this concept of some vast game plan of 10-dimensional chess needing to have been prepared just in case Youngkin was elected governor is, to use a political wonk term, bullshit. When asked, state Senate majority leader Saslaw explained while on an airport layover that he couldn’t get enough people back to Richmond: “They didn’t want to do it.”

Ms. Filler-Corn told them that she would happily bring them back to Richmond but that Mr. Saslaw was strident in his opposition, according to several delegates who participated in the call. Ms. Filler-Corn, in a statement issued by her spokeswoman, said there was “no consensus” among the state’s Democrats about convening before Mr. Youngkin’s inauguration.

Republican state legislatures across the country have done truly terrible things during so-called “lame duck” sessions. Specifically, they have stripped away governors’ powers when the soon-to-be arriving governors are not Republican. Say what you will about the GOP and its lack of actual policy solutions, GOP-controlled state legislatures have worked marathon sessions instead of vacationing, all in the name of stripping voting rights.

No one is proposing that Democratic officials in Virginia turn into the fascists that the Republican Party now consists of. In fact, codifying reproductive rights would be a step toward protecting not only the rights of American citizens and elected officials’ constituents, but would also be a step toward protecting our democracy.

Here’s a list of Democratic state senators and their phone numbers [the first number is the “Pocahontas Building phone number,” and the second number is their “District phone number”]:

George L. Barker (District 39): (804) 698-7539 (703) 303-1426

John J. Bell (District 13): (804) 698-7513 (571) 367-9080

Jennifer B. Boysko (District 33):

(804) 698-7533 (703) 437-0086

R. Creigh Deeds ((District 25): (804) 698-7525 (434) 296-5491 Adam P. Ebbin (District 30): (804) 698-7530 (571) 384-8957

John S. Edwards (District 21): (804) 698-7521 (540) 985-8690

Barbara A. Favola (District 31): (804) 698-7531 (703) 835-4845

Ghazala F. Hashmi (District 10): (804) 698-7510 (804) 698-7510

Janet D. Howell (District 32): (804) 698-7532 (703) 709-8283

Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr. (District 6): (804) 698-7506 (757) 787-1094

Mamie E. Locke (District 2): (804) 698-7502 (757) 825-5880

L. Louise Lucas (District 18): (804) 698-7518 (757) 397-8209

David W. Marsden (District 37): (804) 698-7537 (571) 249-3037

T. Montgomery “Monty” Mason (District 1): (804) 698-7501 (757) 229-9310

Jennifer L. McClellan (District 9): (804) 698-7509 (804) 698-7509

Jeremy S. McPike (District 29): (804) 698-7529 (571) 316-0581

Joseph D. Morrissey (District 16): (804) 698-7516 (804) 737-1626

J. Chapman Petersen (District 34): (804) 698-7534 (703) 349-3361

Richard L. Saslaw (District 35): (804) 698-7535 (703) 978-0200

Lionell Spruill, Sr. (District 5): (804) 698-7505 (757) 424-2178

Scott A. Surovell (District 36): (804) 698-7536 (571) 249-4484