What happens in congressional offices when the boss is gone?

In Washington, only the executive branch takes a vacation. The legislative branch goes on recess.

The two terms used to be nearly synonymous. While members of Congress traditionally spend the month of August meeting with constituents, fact-finding in the Middle East, or freezing bundles of cash, they leave most of their staff behind. Recesson the Hill is thus a time for short skirts, long lunches, and happy hours that start at 4.

Not this year. Late Monday night, some congressional staffers were leaving their offices as late as 9 p.m., because when a divisive national issue (health care reform) meets planned legislative downtime (August recess), the divisive national issue wins. The battle over health care—waged in districts across the country by phone, television, e-mail, and town hall—has sucked up what's supposed to be a rejuvenating period between the first week of August and Labor Day.

It wasn't always this way. In past years, you might have stumbled across a hall party outside a member's office on a Friday afternoon, where staffers could greet the weekend with a brewski (paid for with nontaxpayer dollars, of course). Bars like the Pour House and Hawk and Dove would fill up as early as 5 p.m. One Democratic office may or may not have had a Wii that would get fired up for 18 holes of golf every afternoon.

But that was 2007. "There's no silliness this summer," says Brad Bauman, communications director for Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. "This year it's trench warfare—just without ties."

Still, even in the heat of battle, August is the most casual month. On a baking Tuesday morning, for example, staffers lined up outside the Longworth House Office Building looked more like a high-school lunch line than a congressional army. Jeans outnumbered suits. Sneakers outnumbered loafers. There seemed to be a strict ban on ties.

Most offices let staffers wear whatever they want. The office of Rep. Harry Teague of New Mexico, for instance, is denim-friendly. "When the congressman isn't here, we can wear jeans," one staffer told me when I poked my head in. Does he know about this flagrant abandonment of professionalism? "I think he knows," she said. The office of Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania runs a tighter ship—it's because he's a Navy officer, I was told. Staffers have to wear business attire, no matter the month.

With the lax dress code comes occasional lax behavior. Spend enough time wandering the halls of House and Senate buildings in August, and you're bound to witness the phenomenon best described as "recest." Two congressional staffers were spotted Tuesday in a back hallway locked in a passionate embrace, the gentleman gripping the lady's pearl necklace between his fingers and—NSFW—licking it aggressively. On being caught, the pair disbanded.

Office decorum can also slip. "August is when people start picking up hobbies," says a former Hill staffer. "You get e-mails like, 'I'm on Season 3 of Melrose Place!' "On Tuesday,I watched a Republican staffer in the Hart Senate Office Building check Facebook, write an e-mail, check Facebook, edit an official-looking document, and check Facebook.

And whether staffers admit it or not, the hours are shorter. The security guards at Longworth acknowledged as much. Some staffers trickle in as late as 11 a.m. and the exodus begins as early as 4 p.m. Lunches get longer, too—or, rather, lunches exist in the first place. The normally long line in the Senate cafeteria was gone Tuesday. Finding a seat—normally a struggle—was easy. The gift shop was even more deserted. "It's dead," said the cashier, who was polishing watches. They shortened the shop's hours for recess, but apparently not enough. "The time passes so slowly," she said.