Days in session

[Middleoftheroad]

I haven't seen anyone directly post on this, but I also did not go and look to far back.
But, a lot of people criticize Obama for the amount of vacation he takes, and there was a lot of criticism of Bush for this same thing, but it always seemed to me that congress in general has been a lot worse at it, so I did a real quick search and here are the results

Congress by the numbers
2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Senate 158 191 184 190 138 159 133 167 149 173 141 162 143 153 132
House 127 159 118 164 101 140 110 133 123 142 135 137 119 132 122

The two most obvious trends to me are
1) the senate works consistently more days then the house
2) there is a cycle of low and high from even years (election years) and odd years (obviously non-election years)

And one more obvious note, with 365 days in a year, the most the house has been in session for was 164 days, just over 44% of the year

Edit: obviously my copy and pasting skills aren't up to par, but the information can be found here http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/cong_numbers.html

 

[Trajan]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

 

[Middleoftheroad]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

Well to her credit, that article was december of '06, and '07 was the most days they were in session of any of the years I showed. But still I want a job where, if I showed up for work half the days of the year I would be considered a "workhorse".

 

[Firehorse]

If your upset about that, you'll love the Texas state legislature. As a general rule, Austen doesn't like politics, they come together for a very short time, then Austen kicks then out. It makes them work extra hard during the limited time they are there

 

[Firehorse]

In Texas, they are only scheduled to meet every other year and for a period not to exceed 140 days, then they need to get out of town (see you in a very years, don't call us, we'll call you) ... It's a good way to keep government in check. Idle hands and all that

 

[alan1]

So few days working and they still manage to screw things up.

I say we cut their salary by 85% and only let them work 30 days a year.

 

[Middleoftheroad]

If your upset about that, you'll love the Texas state legislature. As a general rule, Austen doesn't like politics, they come together for a very short time, then Austen kicks then out. It makes them work extra hard during the limited time they are there

Well I just looked it up on wikipedia, the texas state leg works 140 days a year and only makes 28k if you include their per diem. I'll bet most of these people have second jobs, so I don't really hold that against them.

 

[Firehorse]

140 days every other year, but close enough. Texas does it right. If your in Austin all the time, how do you know what your people want? They send them home for a year and a half before they meet again. 140 days to represent your people and get what they want done doesn't leave a lot of time for anything but business. Then it's back home to answer a year and a half of questions about what exactly you did during your 140 days

it's the kind of accountability that DC doesn't have

 

[LoneLaugher]

A little common sense will be of assistance on this one. To say that these people are not working....as in doing things related to their job or keeping their job......is ridiculous. While they are in session only a fraction of the time, they are certainly not vacationing at other times.

You can't be a lazy person and hold a seat in Congress.

 

[Care4all]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

well, it looks like she did pretty good her first year as speaker... congress only worked 101 days the year before Pelosi was elected and her first FISCAL year in the position as Speaker of the House, they worked 164 days....that was a 62% INCREASE in days worked by the house....compared to the 101 days....if I am reading the chart right in the leading post of the thread?

 

[Full-Auto]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

well, it looks like she did pretty good her first year as speaker... congress only worked 101 days the year before Pelosi was elected and her first FISCAL year in the position as Speaker of the House, they worked 164 days....that was a 62% INCREASE in days worked by the house....compared to the 101 days....if I am reading the chart right in the leading post of the thread?

Takes time to spend all that money!!! Because she also stated that with her becoming speaker the end of deficit spending was upon us...........

 

[California Girl]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

well, it looks like she did pretty good her first year as speaker... congress only worked 101 days the year before Pelosi was elected and her first FISCAL year in the position as Speaker of the House, they worked 164 days....that was a 62% INCREASE in days worked by the house....compared to the 101 days....if I am reading the chart right in the leading post of the thread?

Yea.... and just look at the clusterfuck of a congress that was. And, according to international research, the least transparent congress in history.

 

[editec]

It isn't like Congress (or for that matter the POTUS) isn't working when Congress is not in session.

The gridlock in Congress is because Congress cannot agree, not because they aren't working.

 

[Care4all]

yes well, if I recall there was a great deal of fanfare when one party in particular claimed that the house would be in session for real work weeks, unlike the previous sessions....like us normal folk.....

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

and if the others made a similar claim and didn't back it up like she didn't, a pox on their house too.

well, it looks like she did pretty good her first year as speaker... congress only worked 101 days the year before Pelosi was elected and her first FISCAL year in the position as Speaker of the House, they worked 164 days....that was a 62% INCREASE in days worked by the house....compared to the 101 days....if I am reading the chart right in the leading post of the thread?

Yea.... and just look at the clusterfuck of a congress that was. And, according to international research, the least transparent congress in history.

uhhhh, it was the MOST transparent congress in a decade!

 

[Full-Auto]

well, it looks like she did pretty good her first year as speaker... congress only worked 101 days the year before Pelosi was elected and her first FISCAL year in the position as Speaker of the House, they worked 164 days....that was a 62% INCREASE in days worked by the house....compared to the 101 days....if I am reading the chart right in the leading post of the thread?

Yea.... and just look at the clusterfuck of a congress that was. And, according to international research, the least transparent congress in history.

uhhhh, it was the MOST transparent congress in a decade!

I would like to see some evidence of that.

Was it as successful as the end of deficit spending?

 

[Care4all]

Yea.... and just look at the clusterfuck of a congress that was. And, according to international research, the least transparent congress in history.

uhhhh, it was the MOST transparent congress in a decade!

I would like to see some evidence of that.

Was it as successful as the end of deficit spending?

uhhh, i read it somewhere...maybe the same place california girl read what she wrote?

i was teasing california girl Full auto, for posting her comment without ANY PROOF or link....she doesn't like links and that is fine and dandy, but since she doesn't provide one with her off the wall comment on transparency, then i will make my claim and not provide one either....

 

[Full-Auto]

uhhhh, it was the MOST transparent congress in a decade!

I would like to see some evidence of that.

Was it as successful as the end of deficit spending?

uhhh, i read it somewhere...maybe the same place california girl read what she wrote?

i was teasing california girl Full auto, for posting her comment without ANY PROOF or link....she doesn't like links and that is fine and dandy, but since she doesn't provide one with her off the wall comment on transparency, then i will make my claim and not provide one either....

Thanks, I had my doubts you were leaning towards fringe. I have always found you level headed even in disagreement.