Do US congressman spend most of their time fundraising?

Question

In an article titled "Call Time For Congress Shows How Fundraising Dominates Bleak Work Life" the huffingtonpost writes:

The daily schedule prescribed by the Democratic leadership contemplates a nine or 10-hour day while in Washington. Of that, four hours are to be spent in "call time" and another hour is blocked off for "strategic outreach," which includes fundraisers and press work. An hour is walled off to "recharge," and three to four hours are designated for the actual work of being a member of Congress -- hearings, votes, and meetings with constituents.

"Call time" is explained as being fundraising-related as well:

...whether it's "call time" spent on the phone with potential donors, or in person at fundraisers in Washington or back home.

Does that give an accurate impression of how much time US congressman spend fundraising?

Answer 1

I'll only address the quoted claim: that a 9-10 hour work day generally includes 4-5 hours of fundraising time.

References

I'm putting these first because they're an interesting series of interviews and stories by NPR and WBEZ on the topic of political fundraising, and I'll be drawing from them for my answer.

• Planet Money: Senator By Day, Telemarketer By Night
• Planet Money: On Tour With Nancy Pelosi, Fundraising Rock Star
• Planet Money: I'm Calling To Ask For Your Contribution
• This American Life: Take the Money and Run for Office
• Planet Money: Take the Money and Run for Office
• Planet Money: Where Money Meets Power in Washington

Details

• Walt Minnick (former US Representative from Idaho): "I would spend two or three hours a day as a congressman trying to raise money".

  most of those hours are spent across the street from the Capitol, in special offices set up by the parties specifically for this purpose.

• Alex Bloomberg (quoting Dick Durbin, senior US Senator from Illinois) says that "on the Senate side, they'll have these things called "power hours" several times a week, where a bunch of senators will go into the call center"

• There are also in-person fundraising events. Minnick says,

  And I get lots of those kinds of events, too. I was on the egg committee, and every egg group in Washington that wanted to host one of those kinds of events, I would be pleased to go to. And if you walked away with $4,000 or $5,000 from that, that was, a half or a third of what you were supposed to raise that day. And that was easy money. That was a lot fewer phone calls you had to make that afternoon, so.

• Alex Bloomberg reports:

  But it's not uncommon for congressman to average two, three, four hours a day doing the other job, the one in the call center.

  One member told me, if it was the end of the quarter and he really needed to make his numbers, he'd be there all day long. The fact is, you don't have time to do both jobs. And often, the fundraising wins out over the lawmaking.

• Nancy Pelosi (US Representative from California, Minority Leader):

  But I think they've said this year I've attended almost 400 fundraisers in nearly 40 cities.

• This graphic breaks down fundraising events (not just Nancy Pelosi's) by type:

  

• This graphic breaks down fundraising events by time of year:

  

Conclusion

Based on these reports, I find that sometimes the majority of a senator's or representative's working day is spent fundraising, and that on many days, several hours per day are spent fundraising.