So in August, the Senate and the House of Representatives usually takes a recess.

That's a break from their usual proceedings.

Members of Congress get to go home, see their families, talk to constituents.

Raise money.

There is actually a federal law from the 1970s

that specifies this break.

It says to Congress that it shall take an August break

unless we're at war.

I mean, the literal war, not political war.

This formal August recess wasn't always considered

something that was necessary to legislate,

and there's a good reason.

In the early days, Congress was usually done by then. Until the early 20th century, Senate sessions just weren't that long.

The Senate met usually in December,

stayed in session for five or six months,

and then during the rest of the year,

senators went home.

Believe it or not being a senator was at one time a part-time job.

Kind of seems like that now too.

The break was also a relief from the really hot summers in Washington DC, summers that are notoriously hot and

humid. You might even call it swampy. And the Senate chamber didn't even get

manufactured weather, that's what they called air conditioning, until the 1920s, and even that system was pretty primitive.

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