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David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: Is August Recess Work or Play?

By Thomas McKinless and David Hawkings

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A few weeks into the longest August recess in over three decades, Roll Call Senior Congressional Editor David Hawkings breaks out the whiteboard to get to the bottom of an age-old mystery: how do lawmakers spend their summer vacations? While members typically work 70 hour work weeks while Congress is in session, a survey by the Congressional Management Foundation and the Society for Human Resources Management found that they spend an average of 59 hours a week at work during the August recess as well. So how much time will lawmakers really be spending at the golf course this month?

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