The saturn a/c compressor is a variable displacement compressor.  If
the a/c button is pressed, it will continuously run.  However, it's
load on the engine will vary with the low side pressure, which in turn
is related to how cold the evaporator is.  The compressor will try to
maintain a near 0 deg temp at the evaporator if it can.  The evap coil
is in front of the heater core with respect to the airflow, so its
temp will be affected by the temp of the air from outside or from the
cabin air in recirc.  With the lever off the full cold position in
recirc, you are adding heat to the air which the A/C will attempt to
remove and thus work harder.  All the recirc air still travels thru
the evaporator as far as I know before it gets warmed again by the
heater core.  So the answer to your question is yes if the cabin temps
are warm enough to load the compressor and you are using recirc mode.
(ie. the load depends on the air temp passing thru the evaporator.)

dave mc