Is it stupid to let members of congress skip out on their job?

At present, members of congress are often absent from congress during congressional proceedings, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they have other things they'd rather be doing (like engaging in campaign events in order to win votes and/or bring in lots of dollars). Sometimes they want to spend more time with their families or loved ones. Sometimes they're not feeling well and want some time to rest up, or (now that Covid is a problem) feel a need to be in quarantine. And sometimes they'd prefer not to have to cast a vote either way on a controversial matter because whichever way they vote is likely to cost them support and votes come re-election time.

Is it stupid to allow them to do this? Should we instead have some kind of requirement that members of congress have to actually show up for work?

This question came up recently in another thread, where the topic is the upcoming impeachment trial and how many votes are actually needed to convict. It's off-topic there, but it does seem like a topic worth discussing. So as a favor to the person who raised that point I'm starting this thread where he and others interested in the subject can discuss it. I won't have much time at present to take part in this discussion, but I am looking forward to reading what others have to say about it and perhaps taking more part in the discussion.

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