Just three weeks into the new congressional session, Democratic leaders who had promised to restore a five day work week to the Senate gave members Friday off and didn't schedule another vote until mid-day Tuesday — effectively giving many senators a four day weekend.

The week was further shortened because the Senate was closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. The light schedule is in sharp contrast to a vow Democratic Leader Harry Reid made to CNN's Dana Bash in an interview late last month in Nevada that Democrats would shake up the status quo when they took control of the chamber in January.

"We in the Senate are going to work like everyone else in American does: five days." he said. "We have to set a better example."