The Senate is scheduled to be in session five days a week in 2025, an uncommon workload for lawmakers on Capitol Hill who typically work three to four days. The calendar was released by incoming Majority Leader John Thune who posted on X: “Get ready for work.”
“Most people in America need to work five days a week. I think we can up here,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Straight Arrow News. “And technically it’s really only four and a quarter, because we’re coming in on Monday afternoon. So I think it’s good leadership on Thune’s part.”
Get ready to work. pic.twitter.com/AWN1iDLYhQ
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) December 5, 2024
As Tillis pointed out, even though the calendar says five days a week on paper, it will still only be about four total because lawmakers don’t arrive until Monday afternoon and they leave Friday morning.
Regardless, Senate Republicans are promising to work more and get more done next year.
“Anytime you add capacity, you add more potential, and we’re adding capacity,” Tillis said. “We’re adding 25% capacity in terms of working hours in the Senate that should produce productivity.”
Republicans have been critical of the 2024 schedule set by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which had lawmakers in for five days only 13 times.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Conn., told SAN, it’s not all about time in the office, it’s about results.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good record on the infrastructure bill on the other measures to deal with COVID, I think there’s a solid record of accomplishment,” Sen. Blumenthal said. “And the American people measure the results of a Congress not by the amount of time they spend sitting at their desks or walking around the halls, but what the results are.”
One of the biggest priorities for the next Congress is getting appropriations done on time. Republicans hope to follow what is supposed to be the standard legislative process for funding the government, which involves passing 12 bills that each cover different departments.