Congressional staff are generally overworked and underpaid. Talented employees with vast institutional knowledge are eventually forced to choose between Congress and a sustainable lifestyle; the result is a Legislative Branch brain drain with employees leaving for better paying jobs in the Executive Branch or private sector. On top of that, Congress has a diversity problem: staff don’t reflect the constituency their bosses represent.
Continue reading “New Data on House Staff Pay and Retention”Tag: Congressional Ops
Where Each Member Stands on Remote Voting in Congress
Congress must change its rules to temporarily enable Members to vote remotely to ensure continuity of Congress.
Where Does Each Member Stand Two Weeks Later?
(Update, 04/10/20 11:48am): Two weeks ago, our team compiled a database to keep track of Members in the House and Senate who support emergency remote voting.
Support for remote voting measures has grown significantly over the past two weeks. On April 2, the New Democrat Coalition Caucus wrote a letter to leadership urging them to engage in new remote measures. Then, on April 7, the Problem Solvers Caucus sent a bipartisan letter to leadership imploring the House to consider measures to enable Members to work remotely, including voting by phone or videoconference, or having voting machines installed in district offices.
Despite this bipartisan push by Rank and File Members and various caucuses, leadership is still against making any changes to the rules to enable remote voting in Congress. Speaker Pelosi indicated that the House most likely will not come back on its originally planned date of April 20, further disabling Congress’ ability to conduct regular business, schedule for its next round of appropriations, and conduct oversight of the executive branch.
Here are the key findings after two weeks:
- 42 additional Representatives support remote voting. (23 Democrats and 19 Republicans).
- In total, 111 Representatives support remote voting (88 Democrats and 23 Republicans).
- No additional support in the Senate (18 total: 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans).
Legislative Staffers Get Paid Family and Medical Leave During The Pandemic, But It’s Not Permanent
In the midst of this pandemic, legislative staffers have been forced to modify the way they support lawmakers and constituents by switching to telework. These staffers remain on the metaphorical front lines though as they provide assistance to constituents who are desperately in need of support. Legislative staffers, especially those who reside in DC, are strapped with high housing costs, low wages, long work hours, and, with risk of illness particularly acute at the moment, they lack adequate paid and family leave protections.
There has undoubtedly been improvements to the paid parental leave benefits offered to legislative staffers in recent years, but there is still a long way to go. We have written before about the push for full paid family and medical leave for congressional staffers, but most policy proposals have been halted due to the ever-important task of adequately combating the coronavirus. While the passage of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act included provisions that enable congressional staff 12 weeks of paid parental leave, the legislation left out paid family and medical leave.
For weeks during this pandemic, legislative staffers have not been able to get guaranteed paid time off to take care of themselves, sick family members, or kids who may be at home due to school closures. There have been numerous cases of congressional staffers contracting coronavirus while others have been forced to quarantine due to exposure. It’s also evident that this pandemic will be lasting months or longer.
But there is some good news: the paid leave guidelines all changed last week, albeit in a narrow way.
Continue reading “Legislative Staffers Get Paid Family and Medical Leave During The Pandemic, But It’s Not Permanent”What Leg. Branch Receives in the Third Supplemental
Last week Congress enacted its third Coronavirus supplemental bill in an effort to stabilize the country. The legislation limped out of Congress, requiring unusual voting procedures, a stifling of debate, and an almost unprecedented level of unanimity.
The Senate supplemental bill totals $2 trillion, the largest stimulus in our history. While the bill addresses somes issues critical to the preservation of life and functionality of the country — while missing others — Congress failed to provide sufficient funding for the Legislative Branch to ensure it can continue to operate during the crisis.
The appropriations division of the Senate’s bipartisan coronavirus aid and economic relief agreement contains $330 billion in new funding. Title IX of S. 3548 includes $93.1 million in funding for the Legislative Branch, a number that is far too low. It represents roughly 1/2000 of the expenditure.
Continue reading “What Leg. Branch Receives in the Third Supplemental”April Update: Legislative Branch Appropriations Items Due Dates
Back in December 2019 – which feels like ages ago – Congress passed the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill for FY 2020, starting the clock on dozens of Leg. Branch projects and reports.
In January, our team reviewed requests from the Leg. Branch approps bill, broke them down by entity, and summarized the deadlines. For those interested in looking at the complete spreadsheet, you can access it here.
We will regularly post a list of items due from the Leg. Branch approps bill, broken down by entity. We also will include which items were due during the previous month at the end of the report.
Continue reading “April Update: Legislative Branch Appropriations Items Due Dates”Telework: Status of Congressional Offices
All Members of Congress and Staff in DC and District Offices Should Telecommute During the Coronavirus Emergency
Where Congressional Offices Stand One Week Later
(Update, 3/23/2020 2:18pm): Early last week, our team created a database with every congressional offices’ telework policy. Despite strong support from both lawmakers and staff to work from home, leadership in both chambers still do not have a universal policy for teleworking.
One week later, findings from the database are grim to say the least. So far, Senate offices have been more publicly responsive regarding their telework policies. Informally, we have heard that a large majority of offices in both chambers are working from home. Our team plans to leave the database up, but will no longer be actively updating it.
Here are the key findings from our database after one week:
- Most offices still do not have any official statements on their current work policy.
- 89 DC offices have opted to fully telework (21 Senate, 68 House).
- 14 DC Offices are staying open (All House)
Continue reading “Telework: Status of Congressional Offices”
Briefing On Continuity of Congress During Coronavirus
Congressional experts discussed the need for emergency, time-limited measures to allow for remote congressional proceedings during the coronavirus emergency. Speakers at the online event included:
- Norm Ornstein, who was pulled off a flight at Dulles on 9/11. He has worked extensively on continuity of operations.
- Marci Harris former staffer and CEO of POPVOX, a community engagement platform.
- Daniel Schuman, former staffer and Policy Director at Demand Progress (Daniel and Marci recently wrote about emergency measures to allow Congress to convene remotely).
- John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center who writes Congress needs a plan now.
- Lorelei Kelley of Georgetown’s Beeck Center, who also recently testified before the House Committee on Appropriations Legislative Branch subcommittee on continuity and the need for an Article I Renaissance.
Watch the briefing below or on online here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDb5jARr3Y&w=560&h=315] Continue reading “Briefing On Continuity of Congress During Coronavirus”2010 vs. 2020: How The Legislative Branch Distributes Its Funds
Congress is underfunded, plain and simple.
The Legislative Branch has received the smallest slice of the federal spending pie— less than 1% of all non-defense discretionary funds — for years. How does Congress allocate these limited funds? Have those priorities shifted over the last decade?
We took a look at the 2010 and 2020 Legislative Branch budgets, plus the proposed values for 2021 to find out. Historic values were adjusted to 2020 dollars; figures do not include supplemental appropriations or Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) appropriations.
Continue reading “2010 vs. 2020: How The Legislative Branch Distributes Its Funds”House Passes Modernization Committee Resolution
Yesterday, the House overwhelmingly passed H.Res 756, the bipartisan resolution voted unanimously out of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (SCOMC). The resolution includes 29 recommendations that aim to make Congress more effective, efficient and transparent. Some of these recommendations include taking critical steps to improve staff retention and diversity, updating House technology and security, and increasing public access to congressional offices and information.
SCOMC, by definition, does not have any legislative authority. The passage of this resolution marks the first time that legislative action has resulted from a select committee. SCOMC has held 16 hearings and numerous Member and staff-level briefings and listening sessions to solicit ideas and recommendations for reforming the legislative branch since March 2019.
Continue reading “House Passes Modernization Committee Resolution”House Legislative Branch Appropriations: Member Day & Public Witness Testimony Recap
Members and outside experts testified before the House Leg. Branch Appropriations Subcommittee last week. Don’t have a few hours to watch Member testimony and Public Witness testimony or read all the testimony from Members and Public Witnesses? We’ve got the highlights below.
Continue reading “House Legislative Branch Appropriations: Member Day & Public Witness Testimony Recap”