I just read this article in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/05/AR2006120501342.html Here's the gist of it -- Steny Hoyer (D-Md), the incoming House Majority Leader, has announced the new schedule for the 110th Congress which begins on January 4, 2007. And it's longer than the Congressional House year in 2006.
Meaning this -- "... members of the House will be expected in the Capitol for votes each week by 6:30 p.m. Monday and will finish their business about 2 p.m. Friday." That's a five-day work week.
Which is substantially longer than this year -- where the Legislative week began late on Tuesday and ran until late Thursday afternoon. Minus, of course, the vacation days.
Also per the article: "By the time the gavel comes down on the 109th Congress on Friday, members will have worked a total of 103 days. That's seven days fewer than the infamous 'Do-Nothing Congress' of 1948."
Let's say that I'm an employee who works 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That's 260 days. Let's be liberal and throw in twenty (twenty!) paid holidays. That's almost a month. And let's even put in two months (9 weeks) of paid vacation. That's 45 more days. That comes to 195 work days during the year. I certainly don't have nearly that amount of time off at my current job. But it still amounts to a lot more work time that the 103 days that this year's Congress was in session. That's slightly less than 2 days per week for a 52-week year.
And now the schedule's going to change -- longer hours at work. Probably closer to 195 days at work, but probably not even that. They're used to getting a month off in August, two weeks in April, and weeks off in February, March and July.
I understand that this will be tough for those who are representing the west coast. Especially those from Alaska and Hawaii whose time at home will be curtailed substantially. But keep in mind that these members of Congress are being paid a
minimum salary of $165,200 yearly. Plus benefits. They've been elected to do an extremely noble job by their peers. I'm sure they'll make this work.
(Then again -- I'm keeping in mind that Steny Hoyer's home district is within driving distance of the Capitol.)
Best quote of the article: "'Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston
(R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. 'Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says.'"
Yup. Tell that to the single and double-earner families who have to work countless more hours than you do just to put food on the table, Jack...
congress
