Five-day workweeks? No late-night votes? A week off every month? The new Republican-led House promises to operate at a very different tempo under the schedule unveiled Wednesday by incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
The 2011 House legislative calendar calls for 123 workdays during 32 weeks. While the number of days is consistent with first sessions in years past, the number of weeks in the session is an 11 percent drop, enabling members to spend more time in their districts.
House members in recent years often enjoyed workweeks with no serious congressional business scheduled on Mondays and Fridays. Mr. Cantor says his five-day workweek will result in less travel for the lawmakers and potential savings to their congressional allowances.
“Above all else, the House calendar will enable Members to focus on the country’s most pressing concerns: the economy and jobs, reducing spending and limiting the size of government, and making Congress more transparent and accountable,” the Virginia Republican said Wednesday in a letter to colleagues.
Sound familiar?
When Democrats took control of the House in early 2007, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California also promised to break from House tradition and schedule five-day workweeks. But old ways die hard in Congress, and just a few months later, the House side of the Capitol reverted back to ghost-town status most Mondays and Fridays.
Outgoing Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, gave a lukewarm response to the schedule’s unveiling, saying that “our nation will still be facing a number of critical challenges that we must confront together next year.”
“We hope Republicans will work with us on those issues,” he said.
Mr. Cantor said the House GOP transition team — tasked with getting the party ready to assume control of the chamber in early January — unanimously agreed that a Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule “can create an inefficient, unproductive, and frenetic legislative body.”
He vowed to have a more structured workday, calling for votes to be held between 1 and 7 p.m., with mornings reserved for committee hearings.
He also said legislation will be made available three days before a committee markup and three days before floor consideration, a move aimed at avoiding having bills submitted just hours before a vote — a frequent Republican complaint about the current Democratic-controlled House.
As a trade-off for busier days on Capitol Hill, Mr. Cantor, in the letter, “guaranteed” members will have a full week once a month to return home.
Rep. Greg Walden, Oregon Republican and chairman of the GOP Majority Transition Team, called the calendar “an important step to change the way Congress does business.”
“This structure reflects our commitment to create a Congress that is more efficient, productive and responsive to the American people,” Mr. Walden said. “The new calendar will promote more thoughtful legislating and greater oversight while ensuring members of Congress do not become insulated from the voices of the people they represent.”
But whether the Republican leaders will stick to their schedule is tough to predict, as the legislative process is unwieldy and difficult to tame. Mr. Cantor said he reserves the right to amend the schedule at any time.
He set Dec. 8 as the target adjournment date for next year.
• Sean Lengell can be reached at slengell@washingtontimes.com.
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