Reply #22: Here's a comment/article on the absentee congress:

[babylonsister]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/03/the_absentee_co.html

snip//
Ornstein said the emerging "part-time" Congress features lawmakers who do a shoddier job at legislating. These are the same people who don't mind cursing Detroit for doing a bad job making cars or find fault with American competitiveness and quality of our work. Yet they pass bills without knowing what is in them, and they yield much power to their leaders. One could get the impression they really don't like Washington and the job they were elected to do here.

The job is growing increasingly complicated. Congress has a full plate ahead in coming weeks, months and years. The Social Security system is going to run out of money, Medicare is far too costly, the war is costing more than anyone ever expected, the retirement system of Americans is in bad need of repair, and keeping our country secure is even more urgent. Doing a good job on these and other fronts will require more than 97 days out of the year.

Congress appears to have a different kind of Potomac Fever. Members get sick when they come here. So constituents, do you know where your representative or senator is at this moment? The law of averages says it's not Washington.

There are SOME that work hard and deserve the time off, and Senator Kerry definitely falls into this category. He wasn't celebrating Christmas w/his family but off visiting troops and offering American goodwill.
But there are some that could be invisible for all we see of them; as long as they're there to vote the party line (when Congress is in session-not often enough IMO), no one seems to care.
This isn't how elected politicians should act and their constituents should get a clue.

Edit to add: from what I see on CSPAN, they spend so much time arguing, not much gets accomplished at all (except for those middle-of-the-night votes we aren't privy to), and I am fully sick of it!