After examining online records from the Library of Congress, the Washington Post found that both the Senate and the House have been in session less than half of the total 13,000-plus days since online records begin on Jan. 1, 1978.
The Senate has been in session about 42 percent of the time compared to the House's 39 percent, and both chambers of Congress have been in session at the same time only a third of the total time - a little fewer than half of all weekdays.
"During the 1,917 weeks since the start of 1978, the Senate has worked a full week - Monday through Friday - 601 times," according to the Washington Post. "The House has done that far less, at 362 times. And if you're looking for weeks in which both the House and Senate did a full five-day week, you're talking about 258 times - 13.5 percent of the time."
It seems that Congress either enjoys taking Fridays off or is able to get most of its work done Monday through Thursday, because since 1978, both chambers of Congress have been in session less than a quarter of the time on Fridays. The Washington Post found that the Senate does slightly better here, being in session 44.5 percent of all Fridays.
"The longest stretch both chambers have been in session simultaneously was 13 days, ending on Oct. 12, 1990," said the Washington Post. "The longest stretch in which at least one chamber was working was 31, coinciding with the Clinton administration shutdown. The longest period neither was doing anything? Several months at the end of the 104th Congress."
But using these numbers to jump to the conclusion that Congress doesn't work hard may be slightly presumptive.
Members of Congress occasionally do work outside of debating policy and casting votes. They hold occasional constituent events on the weekends, attend town meetings, and of course, make plenty of time to meet with lobbyists.
Either way, as the Washington Post reported in July, the 113th Congress is one of the least productive in modern history.
