Struggle and Privilege
Meager salaries. Boundless influence.
U.S. Senators and House Representatives are over-scheduled and frequently overtired, juggling incessant travel with unrelenting obligations. We publicly credit them for policy wins, yet rarely acknowledge, or even think about, the real gatekeepers of information - legislative staffers - who make recommendations about how they should vote.
Experiences and perspectives of congressional staff can be quite different from the people that voters have chosen for public office. The average staffer is 32 years old, but House members and Senators average 58 and 64 respectively. Members of Congress are largely baby boomers, while millennials often make key decisions behind the scenes. And just as the title of this newly launched newsletter suggests, many trusted senior staff essentially serve as our unelected representatives.
Today, over 17,500 congressional staffers bustle around Capitol Hill and district offices. They are a largely hidden community, drawn to DC from across the nation for a variety of reasons. Low pay probably isn’t one of them.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s estimate for the cost of living in the District of Columbia, one in eight staffers earned less than a living wage in 2020. That means meager salaries - especially for entry level staff positions - limit who can afford to participate in the policy process. [A lot more on that coming in the future.]
The high cost of living in the city also dissuades many staff from staying in their roles for very long. Turnover is high, leading to the loss of institutional memory and a dependency on lobbyists and other groups for information. Many staff also take on side gigs or depend on family support to afford rent and make ends meet.
Still, there are very real perks to working in Congress. Staffers may not necessarily be well compensated for their time and efforts, but they get to shape national policy in invisible, but meaningful ways. They also enjoy direct access to people and conversations that the rest of the nation rarely experiences outside of Hollywood dramas and HBO comedies.
And then there’s an endless parade of celebrities and influencers making the rounds in the Senate and House buildings to champion various causes. A famous musician might appear without notice to give a few dozen lucky staffers a private concert. An actor arrives to promote environmental justice. There’s a frenetic rush of knowing everything first - from political scandals to clandestine agreements - before national news breaks the story a day or two later.
History is happening on Capitol Hill, and it feels like a privilege to be part of it. Even for a moment.
References
Legistorm: Congress by the numbers. https://www.legistorm.com/congress_by_numbers/index/.html
Ratliff, Amisa, Jamie Neikrie, and Michael Beckel. Fair Pay: Why Congress Needs to Invest in Junior Staff. Issue One. January 2022. https://issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Fair-Pay-Why-Congress-Needs-to-Invest-in-Junior-Staff.pdf