Following up on Daniel's post from last week, here's a chart showing the days in session for the House going back to 1947. I wrote a report about this back in 2006, but it's been lost in the ether of both my crashed PC (I'm not a PC because my PC crashed and burned) and the various Sunlight site redesigns.
| Year | Days in Session | Days in Session for Full Congress |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 144 | - |
| 1948 | 108 | 252 |
| 1949 | 165 | - |
| 1950 | 180 | 345 |
| 1951 | 163 | - |
| 1952 | 111 | 274 |
| 1953 | 117 | - |
| 1954 | 123 | 240 |
| 1955 | 112 | - |
| 1956 | 118 | 230 |
| 1957 | 141 | - |
| 1958 | 135 | 276 |
| 1959 | 141 | - |
| 1960 | 124 | 265 |
| 1961 | 147 | - |
| 1962 | 157 | 304 |
| 1963 | 186 | - |
| 1964 | 148 | 334 |
| 1965 | 173 | - |
| 1966 | 163 | 336 |
| 1967 | 189 | - |
| 1968 | 139 | 328 |
| 1969 | 186 | - |
| 1970 | 164 | 350 |
| 1971 | 163 | - |
| 1972 | 135 | 298 |
| 1973 | 175 | - |
| 1974 | 159 | 334 |
| 1975 | 173 | - |
| 1976 | 138 | 311 |
| 1977 | 174 | - |
| 1978 | 149 | 323 |
| 1979 | 173 | - |
| 1980 | 153 | 326 |
| 1981 | 163 | - |
| 1982 | 140 | 303 |
| 1983 | 146 | - |
| 1984 | 120 | 266 |
| 1985 | 152 | - |
| 1986 | 129 | 281 |
| 1987 | 169 | - |
| 1988 | 129 | 298 |
| 1989 | 147 | - |
| 1990 | 134 | 281 |
| 1991 | 154 | - |
| 1992 | 123 | 277 |
| 1993 | 142 | - |
| 1994 | 123 | 265 |
| 1995 | 168 | - |
| 1996 | 122 | 290 |
| 1997 | 132 | - |
| 1998 | 119 | 251 |
| 1999 | 137 | - |
| 2000 | 135 | 272 |
| 2001 | 142 | - |
| 2002 | 123 | 265 |
| 2003 | 133 | - |
| 2004 | 110 | 243 |
| 2005 | 140 | - |
| 2006 | 101 | 241 |
| 2007 | 164 | - |
| 2008 | 118 | 282 |
| 2009 | 159 | - |
