U.S. Congressman Seth Magaziner is busy putting the finishing touches on his 'Real Housewives of Rhode Island' watch party ... but says he'd happily skip it, if called back to DC to end the government shutdown.

Rep. Magaziner finally addressed the controversial party he's co-hosting Thursday for the Bravo show's premiere ... an event that's going down as thousands of federal employees aren't getting paid due to the shutdown.

His spokesperson told WPRI ... Magaziner's been pushing for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to call the House of Representatives back into session to pass the bill, which would partly fund the Department of Homeland Security, the Senate signed off on last week.

The 'Housewives' watch party was planned weeks ago, his spokesperson notes ... but Magaziner would gladly catch a rerun of the show if Speaker Johnson calls everyone back.

As we told you ... Magaziner and a pair of local politicians are hosting the event ... which promises hors d'oeuvres, specialty cocktails, and door prizes.

TMZ has been putting politicians on blast during their 2-week recess because they all jetted off for vacays without finding a way to compromise on funding DHS, and getting relief for suffering government employees.

We're gonna continue doing it throughout the Congressional break, so send your pics to us here.

Bottom line ... between real-life drama and reality TV drama, Magaziner says he'd choose the former, but looks like he'll have to settle for the latter.