DeclinetoState
01-15-2007, 11:59 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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-Nevada, advised his colleagues at the opening of the new session on January 4.
Other Americans, from teachers to police officers to factory workers, put in five days a week on the job, Reid said. "Shouldn't we here in Washington, where we do our business in this laboratory we call the Senate, do the same?"
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-California, also is committed to working longer hours. But the chamber was not in session last Monday, when some members attended the national college football championship game in Arizona. This Monday, Congress is closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
There also are the occasional interruptions, such as the Republican retreat that will shut down the House on a Thursday and Friday later this month. House Democrats hold their retreat the following week, making two three-day work weeks in a row.
First votes following a weekend are being scheduled late in the afternoon or evening, effectively making the first day of the work week a travel day for many lawmakers.
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/15/congress.workweek.ap/index.html)
Same old, same old.
"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-Nevada, advised his colleagues at the opening of the new session on January 4.
Other Americans, from teachers to police officers to factory workers, put in five days a week on the job, Reid said. "Shouldn't we here in Washington, where we do our business in this laboratory we call the Senate, do the same?"
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-California, also is committed to working longer hours. But the chamber was not in session last Monday, when some members attended the national college football championship game in Arizona. This Monday, Congress is closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
There also are the occasional interruptions, such as the Republican retreat that will shut down the House on a Thursday and Friday later this month. House Democrats hold their retreat the following week, making two three-day work weeks in a row.
First votes following a weekend are being scheduled late in the afternoon or evening, effectively making the first day of the work week a travel day for many lawmakers.
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/15/congress.workweek.ap/index.html)
Same old, same old.