PatPatterson
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- May 23, 2004
- Messages
- 640
Did anyone know that there are NO attendance records kept for the United States Senate. <br /><br />I was doing a bit of research to find out the truth about the claims of who was where and when on the Senate Floor, and have been informed that there are no records kept.<br /><br />Here is transcript of emails, with my email address altered, of course.<br /><br /> My Question <br /><br />-----Original Message-----<br />From: Me@myemail.com<br />Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 11:44 AM<br />To: Secretary, Webmaster (Secretary)<br />Subject: Attendance Records<br /><br />Why are there no attendance records for the senate? Shouldnt you put the attendance records for all senators on the site, so the voting public can see who was and was not there?<br /><br /><br /> And the response <br /><br />-----Original Message-----<br />From: Allen, Cheri (Secretary) [mailto:Cheri_Allen@sec.senate.gov]On Behalf Of Secretary, Webmaster (Secretary)<br />Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 3:12 PM<br />To: Me@myemail.com<br />Subject: RE: Attendance Records<br /> <br />No, to my knowledge we do not keep attendance records for Floor sessions. Committees may keep a record of which Senators attend a specific hearing, but I've never seen any type of compilation of data on attendance at Committee meetings. Individual Senators may keep their own attendance records for sharing with their constituents. I suggest contacting your Senators directly for this information.<br /> <br />We publish the tally of each roll call vote taken in the Senate. You can see who did not vote on a given legislative item. If Senators do not vote, it suggests they were not here for the vote, but is not conclusive evidence that they were gone for the entire day (if, by being in attendance you mean that they were here all day).<br /> <br />I suspect that journalists and others who have been reporting on attendance of Senators have been looking at each roll call vote and tabulating information on specific Senators -- or looking at a crucial Committee hearing to see if a Senator was present -- I can think of no other way to come up with this information. <br /> <br />Cheri Allen<br />Senate Webmaster<br /><br /><br /> Hmm. Who here has a job where their attendance is not mandetory, and there are no records kept of their absences? Anyone at all?
<br /><br />My employer (a software company) treats its empoyees like the adults we are. We are tasked to do a job, and a lot is asked of us but if we bust our *** and get the job done, we aren't expected to sit around waiting for the bell at 5pm. We're paid to do a job, if we do it, and do it well we can work whatever hours we want. Obviously this doens't apply for every position here, reception, product support etc. But I can basically come and go as I please. The other side of that coin is that they expect a lot from me, I need to be here for meetings, get my work done on time etc.<br /><br />I have to say, best place I ever worked in my life. Its amazing how mature people act when management treats you like an adult.