Some tidbits on Congressional staffers
It seems like (to outsider me) the agency people have easy jobs and the Congress people are always scrambling...
About 1 in 8 congressional staffers are not making a living wage, according to a new analysis of payroll data.
The problem is particularly acute for staff assistants, who are often the most junior staffers in congressional offices. According to Issue One, a “crosspartisan” group that advocates for transparency in politics, nearly 1,200 staffers in 2020 made less than the $42,610 that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says is a living wage for an adult with no children in the nation’s capital.
Right around 13 percent of Washington, D.C.-based congressional aides came up short of that mark.
In the report, shared first with CQ Roll Call, Issue One analyzed LegiStorm data and found staff assistants make a median income short of $39,000 per year, with press assistants and legislative correspondents doing a little better at a median of about $44,000 per year for each.
It looks like they earn a bit more in Senate offices than House offices. If you have been in Congress you may have noticed the large number of young (20s and 30s) staffers. They don’t have a lot of experience and don’t have time to look into issues deeply. There are so many issues to deal with, and so many people they have to meet! The offices open at 8 am and close at 6 pm and many work 12 hour days.
It is obvious that the Congressional offices did not bloat the way the agencies did over the past 40 years.
I just looked up the number of attorneys working for the federal government in 2022. It seems they have a lot more time and people to think about legislation than the legislators.
The federal government employs 35,640 attorneys of which 393 are stationed in US Territories or in foreign countries. The Department of Justice is the largest employer with 10,265, the Department of Homeland Security has 2,088, and the Department of Treasury employs 2,146. All of the cabinet level and large agencies employ substantial numbers of attorneys in multiple areas.
Duties
Advises and provides legal counsel to officials relevant to studies, reports, analysis prepared by program offices.
Advises officials on pending and proposed legislation developed by members of Congress, other federal agencies that significantly impacts an agency’s policies and other factors.
Represents an agency and Federal Executive Agencies before Federal and State regulatory bodies, that can impact an agency’s policy matters.
Represents an agency in meetings and conferences with high level personnel, interagency, industry, Congressional, state, local and foreign officials, groups, committees and task forces convened to deliberate the legal and policy aspects of proposed legislation, regulations, litigation, issues, questions and activities as they affect an agency, other governmental organizations, or the general public.
One of my clients was an attorney under Obama in Joint Tax which is non-partisan. He said the other attorneys regularly got onto him for working past 5 because he was “making them look bad”.
Had this idea, for every new law they make, they have to get rid of 2.
Have worked construction a bit. All the safety stuff drives our costs over the top. Not privy to the stats but thinking they probably have worse numbers than old school. For me it's obvious, avoid substance abuse. Hung over people will get hurt, you put em in a bullet proof bubble they'll wind up in the ER.
Smokers always seem to be overcompensating for their more frequent breaks and often sabotage non smokers so they don't out perform them.
Underpaid staff seems to create an atmosphere for abuse and/or corruption.