By Daniel Schuman and Alisha Green It comes as little surprise to hill watchers that House staff are underpaid compared to their Senate equivalents, let alone executive branch and private sector staff, but we decided to dig a bit deeper. Just in time for the holidays (and those non-existent public sector bonuses) here's a comparison of key positions in the House, Senate, and executive branch. We admit that the data is a bit old, like the Ghost of the War on Christmas Past, but it's the best we can do with what’s available. The shaded areas in the bars for the executive branch staff show a range of potential pay.
Continue readingKeeping Congress Competent: The Senate’s Brain Drain
By Daniel Schuman and Alisha Green One of the foundations of democracy is a legislature that functions well. The ability to assess whether a legislature is functioning properly depends on the public's ability to see what it is doing. Observing what the U.S. Senate is doing, unfortunately, is a difficult task, and one that is unnecessarily hard. Have special interests become increasingly powerful in the Senate because the upper chamber has diminished its capacity to legislate? To evaluate this question, we gathered data about congressional staff numbers, pay, and retention from a number of difficult-to-access (and often non-public) sources. While the U.S. Senate is often seen as the wiser and more seasoned counterpart to the House, we believe it is suffering from the same affliction that has robbed the lower chamber of some of its ability to engage in reasoned decision making, placing it at the mercy of special interests. Over the past thirty years, the Senate weakened its institutional knowledge base and diminished its capacity to understand current events through a dramatic reduction of one of its most valuable resources: experienced staff.
Continue readingWill the House’s Operations Budget Be Squeezed by Appropriators?
Written by Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey The House of Representatives’ internal operations budget was the subject of a Legislative Branch... View Article
Continue readingHow House Operating Budget Cuts are Paving the Way for More Special Interest Influence
When the House returns to work today, it will be a slightly leaner, slightly less technologically cutting-edge body than it... View Article
Continue readingCongress’s Diminishing Budget Strengthens Lobbyist Influence
Yesterday’s Legistorm report on congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists provides more support for the theory that Congress is turning over its work to... View Article
Continue readingKeeping Congress Competent: Staff Pay, Turnover, And What It Means for Democracy
Incoming Speaker Boehner recently vowed to tighten the House of Representative’s collective belt through a 5 percent budget reduction. Congressional... View Article
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