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Congressional staff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Congressional staff are employees of the United States Congress or individual members of Congress. The position first developed in the late 19th century, and it expanded significantly during the 20th century. Staffers may work with individual members of Congress, or they may be associated with committees or other organizations that support Congress.

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  • Congressional Committees: Crash Course Government and Politics #7
  • Meeting with Congressional Staff - Role Play
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  • Act Of Congress: The Crucial And Unknown Influence Of Congressional Staff Members

Transcription

Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Government and Politics and today we're going to get down and dirty wallowing in the mud that is Congress. Okay, maybe that's a little unfair, but the workings of Congress are kind of arcane or byzantine or maybe let's just say extremely complex and confusing, like me, or Game of Thrones without the nudity. Some of the nudity, maybe. However, Congress is the most important branch, so it would probably behoove most Americans to know how it works. I'm going to try to explain. Be prepared to be behooved. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are divided up into committees in order to make them more efficient. The committees you hear about most are the standing committees, which are relatively permanent and handle the day-to-day business of Congress. The House has 19 standing committees and the Senate 16. Congressmen and Senators serve on multiple committees. Each committee has a chairperson, or chair, who is the one who usually gets mentioned in the press, which is why you would know the name of the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Tell us in the comments if you do know, or tell us if you are on the committee, or just say hi. Congress creates special or select committees to deal with particular issues that are beyond the jurisdiction of standing committees. Some of them are temporary and some, like the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, are permanent. Some of them have only an advisory function which means they can't write laws. The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has only advisory authority which tells you pretty much all you need to know about Congress and climate change. There are joint committees made up of members of both houses. Most of them are standing committees and they don't do a lot although the joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress, without which we would not be able to use a lot of these pictures. Like that one, and that one, and ooh that one's my favorite. Other committees are conference committees, which are created to reconcile a bill when the House and Senate write different versions of it, but I'll talk about those later when we try to figure out how a bill becomes a law. So why does Congress have so many committees? The main reason is that it's more efficient to write legislation in a smaller group rather than a larger one. Congressional committees also allow Congressmen to develop expertise on certain topics. So a Congressperson from Iowa can get on an agriculture committee because that is an issue he presumably knows something about if he pays attention to his constituents. Or a Congressperson from Oklahoma could be on the Regulation of Wind Rolling Down the Plain Committee. Committees allow members of Congress to follows their own interests, so someone passionate about national defense can try to get on the armed services committee. Probably more important, serving on a committee is something that a Congressperson can claim credit for and use to build up his or her brand when it comes time for reelection. Congress also has committees for historical reasons. Congress is pretty tradish, which is what you say when you don't have time to say traditional. Anyway, it doesn't see much need to change a system that has worked, for the most part, since 1825. That doesn't mean that Congress hasn't tried to tweak the system. Let's talk about how committees actually work in the Thought Bubble. Any member of Congress can propose a bill, this is called proposal power, but it has to go to a committee first. Then to get to the rest of the House or Senate it has to be reported out of committee. The chair determines the agenda by choosing which issues get considered. In the House the Speaker refers bills to particular committees, but the committee chair has some discretion over whether or not to act on the bills. This power to control what ideas do or do not become bills is what political scientists call "Gatekeeping Authority", and it's a remarkably important power that we rarely ever think about, largely because when a bill doesn't make it on to the agenda, there's not much to write or talk about. The committee chairs also manage the actual process of writing a bill, which is called mark-up, and the vote on the bill in the committee itself. If a bill doesn't receive a majority of votes in the committee, it won't be reported out to the full House or Senate. In this case we say the bill "died in committee" and we have a small funeral on the National Mall. Nah we just put it in the shredder. Anyway, committee voting is kind of an efficient practice. If a bill can't command a majority in a small committee it doesn't have much chance in the floor of either house. Committees can kill bills by just not voting on them, but it is possible in the House to force them to vote by filing a discharge petition - this almost never happens. Gatekeeping Authority is Congress's most important power, but it also has oversight power, which is an after-the-fact authority to check up on how law is being implemented. Committees exercise oversight by assigning staff to scrutinize a particular law or policy and by holding hearings. Holding hearings is an excellent way to take a position on a particular issue. Thanks Thought Bubble. So those are the basics of how committees work, but I promised you we'd go beyond the basics, so here we go into the Realm of Congressional History. Since Congress started using committees they have made a number of changes, but the ones that have bent the Congress into its current shape occurred under the speakership of Newt Gingrich in 1994. Overall Gingrich increased the power of the Speaker, who was already pretty powerful. The number of subcommittees was reduced, and seniority rules in appointing chairs were changed. Before Gingrich or "BG" the chair of a committee was usually the longest serving member of the majority party, which for most of the 20th century was the Democrats. AG Congress, or Anno Gingrichy Congress, holds votes to choose the chairs. The Speaker has a lot of influence over who gets chosen on these votes, which happen more regularly because the Republicans also impose term limits on the committee chairs. Being able to offer chairmanships to loyal party members gives the Speaker a lot more influence over the committees themselves. The Speaker also increased his, or her - this is the first time we can say that, thanks Nancy Pelosi - power to refer bills to committee and act as gatekeeper. Gingrich also made changes to congressional staffing. But before we discuss the changes, let's spend a minute or two looking at Congressional staff in general. There are two types of congressional staff, the Staff Assistants that each Congressperson or Senator has to help her or him with the actual job of being a legislator, and the Staff Agencies that work for Congress as a whole. The staff of a Congressperson is incredibly important. Some staffers' job is to research and write legislation while others do case work, like responding to constituents' requests. Some staffers perform personal functions, like keeping track of a Congressperson's calendar, or most importantly making coffee - can we get a staffer in here? As Congresspeople spend more and more time raising money, more and more of the actual legislative work is done by staff. In addition to the individual staffers, Congress as a whole has specialized staff agencies that are supposed to be more independent. You may have heard of these agencies, or at least some of them. The Congressional Research Service is supposed to perform unbiased factual research for Congresspeople and their staff to help them in the process of writing the actual bills. The Government Accountability Office is a branch of Congress that can investigate the finances and administration of any government administrative office. The Congressional Budget Office assesses the likely costs and impact of legislation. When the CBO looks at the cost of a particular bill it's called "scoring the bill." The Congressional reforms after 1994 generally increased the number of individual staff and reduced the staff of the staff agencies. This means that more legislation comes out of the offices of individual Congresspeople. The last feature of Congress that I'm going to mention, briefly because their actual function and importance is nebulous, is the caucus system. These are caucuses in Congress, so don't confuse them with the caucuses that some states use to choose candidates for office, like the ones in Iowa. Caucuses are semi-formal groups of Congresspeople organized around particular identities or interests. Semi-formal in this case doesn't mean that they wear suits and ties, it means that they don't have official function in the legislative process. But you know what? Class it up a little - just try to look nice. The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of the African American members of the legislature. The Republican Study Group is the conservative caucus that meets to discuss conservative issues and develop legislative strategies. Since 2010 there is also a Tea Party caucus in Congress. There are also caucuses for very specific interests like the Bike Caucus that focuses on cycling. There should also be a Beard Caucus, shouldn't there? Is there a Beard Caucus Stan? No? What about an eagle punching caucus? The purpose of these caucuses is for like minded people to gather and discuss ideas. The caucuses can help members of Congress coordinate their efforts and also provide leadership opportunities for individual Congresspeople outside of the more formal structures of committees. There are a lot of terms and details to remember, but here's the big thing to take away: caucuses, congressional staff, and especially committees, all exist to make the process of lawmaking more efficient. In particular, committees and staff allow individual legislators to develop expertise; this is the theory anyway. Yes it's a theory. Committees also serve a political function of helping Congresspeople build an identity for voters that should help them get elected. In some ways this is just as important in the role in the process of making actual legislation. When Congress doesn't pass many laws, committee membership, or better yet, being a committee chair is one of the only ways that a Congressperson can distinguish him or herself. At least it gives you something more to learn about incumbents when you're making your voting choices. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week. Crash Course is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. Support for Crash Course US Government comes from Voqal. Voqal supports nonprofits that use technology and media to advance social equity. Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org Crash Course is made with all of these lovely people. Thanks for watching. Staffer! Coffee! Please. Thank you.

History

Before the American Civil War, members of Congress did not have staff assistance or even offices, and "most members worked at their desks on the floor."[1]

In 1891, Congress had a total of 146 staff members: 37 Senate personal staff, 39 Senate committee staff, and 62 House committee staff (37 of whom only worked during congressional sessions).[2] The House first approved personal staff for Representatives in 1893.[2] By the beginning of the 20th century, congressional staff had become a well-accepted feature of congressional operations.[2]

In 1943, House committees employed 114 staff members, while Senate committees employed 190 staff members.[2] The size of individual members' personal staffs were still relatively small, with the average senator having six staffers and representatives limited to having five staffers.[2] In the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, which reformed Congress and greatly reduced the number of congressional committees,[3] Congress expressly authorized permanent, professional committee staff for the first time.[2] The act provided for a much-needed increase in committee staff, allowing for up to four professional and six clerical staff members for each standing committee, except for the appropriations committees (which had no limitation on the number of staff members).[2][3] The 1946 act also reorganized the Library of Congress and created the Legislative Reference Service (which later became the Congressional Research Service) as a distinct entity.[3] The size of both personal and committee staff increased considerably after the passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act.[2] Following the significant increase in 1947, there was gradual growth in the number of both kinds of staff for about twenty years.[2] Increased staff specialization also occurred during this period of slow growth (i.e., staffers began to be divided into press, legislative, and casework roles).[2]

In the 1970s, there was again a sharp jump in the number of staff.[2] This was a response "in part to increased workloads and in part to confrontation with the executive branch on various issues, including the president's impoundment of funds and the Watergate crisis."[2] The political scientist Morris P. Fiorina, in his book Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment, found that the number of congressional staff more than doubled between 1960 and 1974. The increase was mostly in district or state offices; the percentage of congressional staff who worked in a district office went from 14% in 1960 to 34% in 1974.[4]

In the 1970s and 1990s, "staff numbers generally held level and increases were held down. After 1995, staff numbers actually decreased slightly."[2]

In 2021 a group of staffers called Congressional Progressive Staff Association sought to push for workplace measures and with the support of Representative Andy Levin make incremental reforms.[5] In 2022 and 2023, multiple House offices and one Senate office voted to unionize with the Congressional Workers Union.[6]

Types of staff members

C-SPAN classifies staff members into five categories:[7]

In the year 2000, there were approximately 11,692 personal staff, 2,492 committee staff, 274 leadership staff, 5,034 institutional staff, and 3,500 GAO employees, 747 CRS employees, and 232 CBO employees.[7]

Personal staff

Budgets for staff are determined by the population of the state; Senators from California, the most populous state, get more money for staff than Senators from Wyoming, the least populous state. Members can choose how to distribute staff between their Washington office and their United States congressional district home office or offices.[7]

Not all offices have the same type of organization, and different titles may be used for substantially similar jobs. Common jobs are:

  • Chief of staff: Highest-ranking and usually highest-paid legislative staffer in the office of a member of Congress, usually the chief operating officer of the office, reporting directly to the member. Oversees a dozen or more other employees. Some chiefs of staffs are charged with personnel decisions and policy initiatives. From time to time a chief of staff may be based out of a district office, but they are almost always found at the Capitol ("on the "Hill"). Chiefs of staff are usually very experienced political staffers, often with years of prior work on the Hill, or are personal friends of Members. Some chiefs of staff were previously campaign managers.[7]
  • Deputy chief of staff: Reports to the chief of staff and typically oversees a few policy issues. Responsibilities typically include managing the Chief of Staff’s schedule, personal correspondence, and any overflow work delegated by the Chief of Staff.[8]
  • Legislative director (LD), senior legislative assistant (SLA), or legislative coordinator (LC): oversees the legislative staff, including all legislative assistants and correspondents. There is usually one in each office.[9]
  • Scheduler or Director of Operations: The key administrative staffer in the office, the scheduler is responsible for fully designing and maintaining the Member's schedule. This work typically includes making travel arrangements and arranging all events and meetings.[8]
  • Legislative assistant (LA): Legislative Assistants assume expertise and develop legislation for a few select issue areas, keeping the Member up to date on constituent issues or policies that pertain to those subject areas.[8]
  • Legislative correspondent (LC): Responsible for drafting letters in response to constituents' comments and questions and also generally responsible for a few legislative issues. According to the Dirksen Congressional Center, most House offices have one or two, while senators have three to five, depending on their state's population.[9]
  • Legislative counsel: Some offices also have a staffing attorney who works alongside legislative staff. Their role often involves advising legislative staff and the Member on legal issues and ensuring compliance with the law and chamber rules, including ethics guidelines.[8]
  • Press secretary or communications director: Responsible for Member's relationship with media; is the liaison for the local and national press; issues press releases. In offices with no press assistants, this position also runs social media.[7]
  • Press Assistant (PA): Assistant to the Communications Director. Press assistants usually run social media accounts, draft press releases/op-eds/etc. as delegated, and occasionally assist with correspondence with media contacts.[8]
  • Staff Assistant (SA): The most common entry-level position on Capitol Hill, the Staff Assistant handles all front office responsibilities, answers phones, schedules tours, and often supervises the mail program. Staff Assistants also often serve as intern coordinators.[8]
  • Caseworkers or constituent services representatives: Based in the district office and responsible for helping constituents deal with problems relating to federal agencies. For example, caseworkers help individuals secure veterans' benefits, aid with Social Security and Medicare, and resolve immigration issues.[9] Caseworkers may also provide mediation services to constituents and obtain government information and publications.[7]

Committee staff

Each congressional committee has a staff, of varying sizes. Appropriations for committee staff are made in annual legislative appropriations bills. Majority and minority members hire their own staff except on two select committees in each house—the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the House and the Select Committee on Ethics and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate. These committees have a single staff.[7]

In 2000, House committees had an average of 68 staff and Senate committees an average of 46. Committee staff includes both staff directors, committee counsel, committee investigators, press secretaries, chief clerks and office managers, schedules, documents clerks, and assistant.[7]

Safety and security

Like members of Congress, congressional staff have occasionally been the targets of violence or threats of violence.[10][11][12] Between 1789 and 2011, there were five incidents affecting some congressional staff alongside members of Congress.[10] The following recorded incidents of violence against congressional staff have taken place:

Notes

  1. ^ "Careers, congressional" in Encyclopedia of the United States Congress (2007), eds. Robert E. Dewhirst & John David Rausch, p. 83.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Susan Webb Hammond, "Life and Work on the Hill: Careers, Norms, Staff, and Informal Caucuses" in Congress Responds to the Twentieth Century (Ohio State University Press, 2003: eds. Sunil Ahuja & Robert E. Dewhirst), pp. 73-96.
  3. ^ a b c "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946" in Encyclopedia of the United States Congress (2007), eds. Robert E. Dewhirst & John David Rausch, p. 319.
  4. ^ "Offices, district" in Encyclopedia of the United States Congress (2007), eds. Robert E. Dewhirst & John David Rausch.
  5. ^ Ben Terris. (12 May 2023). "The Drug-Fueled Protest in Dianne Feinstein’s Office You Haven’t Heard About". Politico website Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  6. ^ Saksa, Jim (March 8, 2023). "With voluntary recognition, Ed Markey's staff will be the first in the Senate to unionize". Roll Call. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h C-SPAN's Capitol Questions, November 15, 2000.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Congressional Staff Definitions". Leadership Connect. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c "How to Communicate Effectively with Congress," Dirksen Congressional Center.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g R. Eric Petersen, Jennifer E. Manning & Erin Hemlin, Violence Against Members of Congress and Their Staff: Selected Examples and Congressional Responses (January 25, 2011).
  11. ^ Emily Goodin, Members have 24-hour protection at Capitol but home is a different story, The Hill (April 23, 2013).
  12. ^ Man Accused of Threats to Congressman's Staff Denied Bond, Associated Press (March 6, 2017).
  13. ^ Michael D. Shear, Adam Goldman & Emily Cochrane, Steve Scalise Among 4 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead, New York Times (June 14, 2017).
This page was last edited on 16 April 2024, at 04:51
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