Jake Sherman takes a look at a story that creeps up about once a year: how many days does the House of Representatives actually work?

Give the story a read before you hear about it all day on talk radio and cable news.

Jake Sherman: House: Working hard or hardly working?

After taking control of the House in 2006 — and again when President Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) boasted that lawmakers would work four or five days a week to bring change to America.
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But midway through Obama’s first year in office, Hoyer’s House has settled into a more leisurely routine. Members usually arrive for the first vote of the week as the sun sets on Tuesdays, and they’re usually headed back home before it goes down again on Thursdays.

Team Pelosi has to be happy with the story’s focus on Hoyer and also this picture caption:

Midway through President Barack Obama’s first year in office, Steny Hoyer’s House has settled into a rather leisurely routine.

If this story sounds familiar to you, that’s because it is:

POLITICO: Lawmakers Revolt Against Long Hours (February 7, 2007)

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Jim Abrams: Democrats Vow 5-Day Workweek… Sort Of (January 14, 2007)

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Mike Viqueira: SO MUCH FOR THAT FIVE-DAY WORK WEEK… (December 7, 2006)

UPDATE: A reader sent us this front page Washington Post article from December 6, 2006 and noted this was days after the Democrats regained control of the US House of Representatives.

WaPo’s Lyndsey Layton: Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week (December 6, 2006)

Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.

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The horror.