Probably not in Washington, where it’s been months since the Senate conducted real business on a Friday, apart from brief housekeeping and pro forma sessions.

On Thursday, senators voted in the early afternoon and most exited the Capitol about 2:30 p.m., not to return until late Monday afternoon. To be fair, the House had left an hour earlier.

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Dec. 20 marked the last day the Senate held a roll call vote on a Friday, voting to break a filibuster on Janet Yellen’s nomination to chair the Federal Reserve. Before that, the October government shutdown forced Friday and even weekend sessions, as lawmakers in both chambers feared the poor optics of adjourning amid their failure to fund the government.

The Senate almost had to work a Friday in April after a deal on Thursday votes fell through, precipitating a heated debate between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over the way the chamber is run. With no agreement for Thursday votes, Reid announced the Senate would indeed take a Friday roll call.

The vote was quickly canceled over a fear that the sparse Friday attendance would be an embarrassment to the institution.

The schedule will only get more thin as election politics consume the Senate ahead of a battle for control of the chamber this fall, with Democrats setting up partisan wedge votes and Republicans using procedural tools to delay confirmation of nominees.

But not everyone’s happy with the short workweeks, believing that staying in the Capitol for longer periods of time will cut down on partisan grandstanding.

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“I’m here to do my work. I’ll work whenever you know, Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “It’s almost routine. We’re done here Thursday, our staff schedules us for Friday and Saturday. I think we should be here on Friday, doing the work here Friday and then try to get to know each other.”

“It’s amazing how people’s zeal seems to vaporize when Friday rolls around,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

McCain represents a diminishing group of old bulls who fondly reminisce over the Senate’s alleged golden years, when majority leaders like Robert Byrd, Bob Dole and George Mitchell would give the chamber a week to finish a bill — and keep the Senate in session until it was done.

But to most of today’s senators, those tales are the stuff of legend, not personal memory.

“There used to be the Thursday night deadline and people I guess would leave on Friday morning or Friday afternoon,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who’s served since 2007. “As I understand it, that caused people to come together and realize maybe the important amendment they wanted to offer, maybe it wasn’t that important.”

It’s not just Fridays. In a typical week, senators arrive late Monday for 5:30 p.m. votes and work full days Tuesday and Wednesday. By mid-afternoon Thursday, the work is either done or punted until the next week and senators dart to the airport for a long weekend back home.

There are myriad reasons that Reid keeps the workweeks short: His members are up for reelection, they need to stay in touch with their district (no one wants to reelect a Washingtonian) and few members keep their family in the city anymore, meaning seeing the kids often requires a long flight home.

And there’s a contingent of lawmakers who say that long weekends are an important part of governing. After all, most senators aren’t sitting back with a cold one and watching the game when they are back in their home states.

“The only day we have to visit businesses and schools is Friday,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “If you are in session from the beginning of the day Monday until the end of the day Friday, you really remove one of the most important parts of our work. And that is listening to how what we’re doing is impacting people back at home.”

Republicans are vowing to reinstate a five-day workweek if they retake the Senate this November. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell believes a Monday to Friday schedule will force consensus among disagreeing lawmakers in a Capitol with marble floors, limited windows and uncomfortable furniture. Democrats note that despite those promises, McConnell hasn’t been on the floor when the Senate comes into session on Mondays at 2 p.m. since February.

But Republicans are “very serious” about working five days a week in 2015 if they take the Senate, Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, hoping to “use what’s colloquially known as the fatigue factor to let people sort of self-select who’s going to hang in there and fight for amendments and who’s not.”

Given that Republicans will have to defend more than 20 Senate seats in 2016, many of which are in blue and purple states, Democrats predict the GOP’s much-hyped five-day workweek would quickly fold in the face of defending their prospective majority.

“One-third of their folks or more will be up if they’re in the majority in 2016,” said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). “There will only be 10 of us. So they want to work five days? We’ll work seven days.”