Can Congress Do Its Job?
Lee Drutman writes: “[O]ver the years, and particularly over the past few decades, Congress has ceded more and power to the executive. Admittedly, it has done some of this… Read More
New Innovation Fellows Arrive In Congress and Aim to Augment Capacity
Two hundred individuals applied, and only four were chosen as the 2017 TechCongress Innovation Fellows. They are: Sunmin Kim, a deputy editor for The Economist Intelligence Unit, who specialized… Read More
Overseeing the Executive: Does Congress Have Sufficient Staff?
Lee Drutman, co-director of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, writes on Vox: So what accounts for the Senate’s almost 30-year drought of “notable investigations”? The most obvious explanation… Read More
How Long Do House and Senate Staff Stay In Their Jobs?
The Congressional Research Service has released two reports to answer this question: Staff Tenure In Selected Positions In House Members Offices 2006-2016 Staff Tenure In Selected Positions… Read More
Is the House of Representatives Legislating In the Dark?
In this short audio interview, Professor James Curry (University of Utah) explains how limited resources have enabled party leaders to write and negotiate most laws in Congress. Lacking… Read More
The Congressional Tendency to Cannibalize Itself
Source: Profs. Tim LaPira and Herschel Thomas Why is Congress loath to increase its staff, and sometimes eager to cut it? Professors Anthony J. Madonna and Ian Ostrander… Read More
House Pay Increase Will Amount to Less Than $1,000 Per Staffer
RollCall.com reports: “House lawmakers are intent on giving staff members a raise in 2017, concerned that low pay and long hours are contributing to an unprecedented congressional brain drain. Read More
A Framework for Congressional Staffing: A Few Thoughts from Management Consulting
The question of “is Congress well-staffed?” can be approached just as any staffing problem is approached across the federal government and the private sector, by answering this question: What is the… Read More
Notes from the June 20, 2016 Meeting on the Topic of Congressional Staff
More than 50 persons attended the meeting in the Capitol Visitors Center. The meeting’s topic was congressional staff, and Daniel Schuman of DemandProgress presented data that showed reductions in… Read More
So What if Congressional Staff Levels are Declining?
Following Daniel Schuman’s presentation to the Legislative Branch Capacity Working group on June 20, R Street Institute’s Kevin Kosar posted a series of informative charts measuring congressional staff… Read More