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Politics

Longer workweek at Capitol? Sort of

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - The five-day workweek, an idea alien to congressional culture in recent years, is about to make a comeback.

"We are going to work longer hours, we are going to work full weeks, we are going to have votes on Mondays and Fridays," new Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., advised his colleagues at the opening of the new session on Jan. 4.

Old habits, of course, are not that easy to kick. The Senate was off the next day, a Friday.

The House under new Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also is committed to working longer hours. But the chamber was not in session Jan. 8, when some members attended the national college football championship game. Today, Congress is closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

There also are the occasional interruptions, such as the Republican retreat that will shut down the House on a Thursday and Friday this month. House Democrats hold their retreat the following week, making two three-day workweeks in a row.

Under GOP leadership, no House votes were scheduled until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and the last votes were on Thursday afternoon. That way, lawmakers had long weekends to leave the Capitol.

Republicans argued that legislators should spend more time with their families and constituents back home. The abbreviated schedule also made life easier for lawmakers living in California and Hawaii and gave lawmakers more time for fundraising.

The Senate has tended to work somewhat longer hours. But both chambers grew accustomed to lengthy "district work periods," when Congress is in recess.

According to the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House was in session 102 days last year, fewer than the 110 days of the "do-nothing" Congress of 1948.

But Congress under Democratic control still will not be punching the clock for a 9-to-5 schedule.

Hoyer said his plan for most weeks was to hold first votes at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays and work until about 2 p.m. on Fridays. Long holiday recesses may be shortened, he added, although "there is great value to House members being in their districts and talking to their people."

Fred Beuttler, deputy House historian, said today's lawmakers still put in a lot more time on Capitol Hill than did their predecessors. Until the 1930s, a Congress elected in November frequently did not convene until 13 months after the election.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 00:05:30]