Make Congress Spend More Time Legislating

TW: Folks have suggested lengthening the congressional work week before but it is time to actually do it. Hamilton below supports it as a means to provide legislators more time to focus on actual legislating and getting to know their colleagues, all true. I would support as a means to nudge them away from doing the things they do when they are not in D.C. i.e. fund-raise and ponder how to attain their next higher office. Prior to the advent of jet travel, congressional folks could not run back to their districts weekly, they would stay in D.C. and legislate, get to know each other (and carouse at times). There are only 168 hours in a week, congressional folks need time to legislate, for personal matters and everything else (fund raise etc.). Forcing them to spend more on the first will result in them sacrificing some of the third.

And remember this is only during the time when Congress is actually in session, the rest of the year they can boondoggle, "get to know their constituents", etc.

From Lee Hamilton (fmr. Congressman from Indiana) via the Bloomington Herald:
"...there is one small improvement that Congress could put into effect that would go a long way toward making it a more successful body: extend the congressional work week.

I don’t mean to suggest that members of Congress are sloughing off. Far from it: they work extremely hard. It’s just that much of their work involves tasks other than legislating. Most of the year, they devote only three days a week to this fundamental responsibility; the rest of the time, they’re raising money, giving speeches, politicking in the district, traveling on fact-finding visits, meeting with lobbyists and constituents and attending to the myriad other responsibilities that contemporary members of Congress believe to be part of their job.

...The manic schedule that members of Congress maintain costs them more than the chance to get their thoughts in order. I would argue, in fact, that it hurts their ability to be effective as legislators. For the simple truth is that good legislating takes time. It demands the patient pursuit of consensus, the working through of alternatives, the ability to test ideas in debate and a willingness to build the broad consensus that is necessary for effective legislation.

...Many members don’t have the opportunity to get to know one another well, and therefore to build the trust required to work across party and ideological lines. Time for debate and deliberation — key constitutional responsibilities — gets constrained..."