Congress finds 5-day workweek is too taxing

Here's a link to another report on the subject of Congress' three-day-a-week, holiday-heavy work schedule:

Something must've been lost in translation.
How else to explain Congress' decision to give itself a seven-day recess in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Or a weeklong break in February for Presidents Day. Or a two-week break for Easter and Passover and the entire month of August, which has no official holiday at all.
At a time when the war in Iraq is bogged down, debate is raging about the government conducting warrantless searches and the federal deficit is at a record high, the House is on schedule to meet for the fewest number of days in 60 years, according to one estimate. The Senate is not far behind.
"It's not too much to ask Congress to commit to spending at least half the year -- 26 weeks -- working full time, five days a week, thus providing at least a measure of the deliberation and attention to detail that are so lacking now," Norman Ornstein, a scholar on the history and workings of Congress for the American Enterprise Institute, has written.
According to Ornstein, this year's schedule -- at best -- calls for Congress to be in session for the fewest number of days in 60 years. Based on the official House calendar, there are only 97 days scheduled for votes this year. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Oct. 6.

— Charles Pope, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Steve from "RE: Five-Day Work Week": On one hand, since we pay these characters a metric buttload of money to do whatever it is that they do, I feel like they should at least be in the office for a work week. For the record, Monday at 6 pm until Friday at 2 pm is not a five day work week. On the other hand, these people are pretty much working every waking moment of the day.

I'm with Steve regarding his first 'hand' — these congressional jobs aren't supposed to be jet-setting cakewalks. If these guys want to work three-day weeks, they should work for themselves (instead of for us — i.e. the folks who are paying them). Before I became an 'independent contractor,' I had to follow the strict rules of workplace attendance in order to keep my job. Today, if I don't want to work, that's my decision, but I'm not guaranteed of the benefits of a salaried gig, either. In other words, kudos to Hoyer for trying to make these guys and gals come to work more often, regardless of his motivations. After all, with 'employees' as slippery as this crew, stricter workplace rules couldn't hurt. If some don't like it, boo-hoo — return to the private sector, you cry-babies.