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Show HEP. LAURENCE J. BURTON Just what does a Congressman Congress-man do with his time? I'm sure that a lot of those who asked me that while I was in Utah recently were just ribbing me with: "So, what are you doing having a Congressional recess? Why aren't you back in Washington at work? But, all kidding aside, there are those who really wonder why their two Senators and Congressmen were not hard at work in the nation's capital. The easy answer, of course, would be to say that everyone needs a short vacation to catch up on a little rest. But the more I thought about the questions ques-tions asked, the more I thought that it would be interesting to put down on paper just exactly ex-actly what a Congressman does in his daily work in Washington Wash-ington to deserve a recess. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has printed results re-sults from a survey they completed com-pleted which shows that the average Congressman spends 59.3 hours per week at his job during a typical week while " Congress is in session. Surprisingly Surpris-ingly enough, only a little more than a fourth (25.8) of his time is spent on the floor of the House of Representatives. But not so surprising at least to every Congressman is that almost as much time (24.1) is spent in committee work, legislative research and reading. The survey also stated stat-ed that an average Congressman Congress-man spends over seven hours each week answering mail. The rest of the time is filled with handling constituents' problems, committee work outside of committee, com-mittee, leadership functions, writing speeches, preparing press work, and, of course, meeting with constituents in Washington. Mind you, this survey was tabulated during the 89th Congress, Con-gress, my second term representing repre-senting Utah. Since that time I have found myself honored with several appointments in addition to my main committees: commit-tees: Interior and Insular Affairs Af-fairs and the Select Committee on Small Business. In the Interior In-terior Committee alone 874 measures were referred for action! Also, I serve on the Public Land Law Review Commission, a bipartisan group of 18 people, peo-ple, six chosen by the House leadership, six from the Senate, and six by the President of the hours to return to their districts, dis-tricts, the Utah Congressional delegation spends a day going back to the state, and another -day returning to Washington. I enjoy getting letters from my constituents, but there's nothing noth-ing that really compares with hearing the problems firsthand while back in Utah. Another of my more pleasant duties is to personally take as many constituents as possible around the Capitol Building. Time-consuming, yes, but the Capitol is so full of history. I never tire of conducting a tour through the area. What is a little irritating and I'm sure every Congressman Congress-man feels the same way is the phone call in the middle of the night from someone with a problem. This doesn't happen too often, but there are times, believe me! I subscribe to Utah's newspapers, news-papers, both weeklies and dailies, dail-ies, and several publications from the state. These I feel are important to me because it keeps me posted on the problems prob-lems and progress of our state. When anyone talks about the "exciting life of Washington," I always have to smile a little. True, there are banquets a Congressman can attend just about every night of the week but this kind of life gets tiring fast. Jan and I enjoy going to a banquet occasionally, just as anyone does, but for the "exciting life," no thanks! There has been some talk of devoting the first three months of a session solely to committee commit-tee work. The thinking behind this is to get the major legislation legis-lation ready for orderly consideration consid-eration by the full membership of the House. Of course, while this proposition has some merit, I doubt that it will ever come to pass because of "tradition." The House Rules would have to be changed, and there are just too many members who would oppose that. After re-reading this report, I still confess that I love the work, and honestly, there isn't a better job in the whole world than representing the people of Utah in the United States Congress! United States. The chairman of the PLLRC is Colorado Representative, Rep-resentative, Wayne Aspinall, and we have been meeting twice a month recently. One such meeting was called immediately im-mediately after the November elections, so some of us had to leave the day following our election and fly to Arizona where the commission held a three-day meeting. Usually, however, the commission meets over a two or three-day period on weekends. So there are a few more hours that weren't included in the survey. Another honor which came my way recently was appointment appoint-ment to the Republican Policy Committee, which usually meets on Tuesday afternoons. But if we're in committee, and the House calls for a quorum or a vote, then each Congressman Congress-man must leave the committee meeting and go immediately to the House and then regroup to pick up his committee discussions. discus-sions. My duties on the Republican Republi-can Congressional Committee could call for me to be in any part of the country at any time. This committee works especially hard during an election elec-tion year, and we are often called upon to make a speech in behalf of one of our colleagues col-leagues who is up for re-election. According to the Massachusetts Massachu-setts Institute's survey, the average Congressman spends about five-and-a-half days a month back in the district. Oh, those lucky Virginia and Maryland Mary-land Congressmen! While it takes them a matter of a few- |