This week’s Ask a Staffer, we talk about State of the Union, Office Perks and the main question, who writes legislation?
Thanks for your questions this week. If you have a question for me, shoot it over in the form or leave a question in the comments!
Do hill staffers get to go to the State of the Union?
Sometimes. Usually it because the member’s spouse doesn’t want to go, and most offices have a raffle to give the ticket up. Other (more rare) times, you’re a heroic intern like Rep. Giffords’ Daniel Hernandez and the President invites you to sit in the box with the First Lady. Some offices even give their ticket(s) to other offices because people actually do not want to attend the speech. The day of the SOTU, there are usually a litany of “freak out” emails among the staff assistants, office managers, press people, and chiefs of staff on their list servers trying to get extra tickets because somebody in their district who is notable for some reason wants to attend. Most of those people end up watching the speech from their hotel room because they don’t get tickets.
Never having been to the State of the Union, I’m not sure I’d want to go. The lights in the House chamber make the place pretty hot in the first place, add a few thousand people to make it hotter– with no access to my blackberry, alcohol, or a remote control with a mute button? No thanks. The only way I’d go is if the Constitution required me, meaning I’d be President.
Who writes the legislation?
A whole lot of people write legislation that gets introduced in Congress. Sometimes the member actually writes it — Claire McCaskill once wrote one on the Senate floor by hand. This is not a recommended way to write something that could potentially become law. Most times, a member will have an idea, or be asked to write a bill because a person/interest group approached him. They will have their policy staff, Legislative Director and Legislative Assistant research what bills have been written before on the topic, if applicable, and they go from there, working with the relevant committee and leg counsel.
Some times a bill from 20 years ago can be dusted off and revised, other times things need to be written from scratch.
Whenever people tell you that “I wrote that bill” odds are they are lying to you. Legislative Counsel technically writes the bills and makes sure they’re properly formatted. It’s archaic and technical, but for a law to actually work, that’s the way it has to be. Staff may have taken the lead on the bill and written some concept language, but they rarely ever write the whole thing.
And yes, sometimes lobbyists write legislation! Before you get your populist anger on, lobbyists from the “good” groups that you support also write bills and give them to staff. Whether staff take what they’re given blindly or use it as a base is up to the hill staffer and the member.
Naming bills can be a pain in the ass. Coming up with an acronym for bills that do really mundane things can really stretch your creativity. I think the best acronym would be if we could have a bill title spell something profane, but never call it by its acronym — you know, like the Sending Helpful Internal Trauma Doctors Act of 2012 could be called the SHIT DOCS Act. Hey, why not see if people are paying attention? Kidding aside, that’d get me fired.
What kind of perks exist on Capitol Hill?
Financially, the perks of Congress do not differ from what all federal employees have — a pension, thrift savings plan, federal employee health benefits plan, student loan assistance. And, of course, a salary.
The real perk of taking a $25,000 a year staff assistant job is the ability to learn and potentially be promoted to legislative or communications staff. That experience will usually pay high dividends in the future. Interesting trivia: Staff cannot make more than members of Congress ($174,000 a year), a term that’s called “maxing out.”
The real perk though is just working there. Imagine working in a national landmark, knowing how to navigate a secretive and confusing web of millions of square footage. Multiple post offices (most of which are slated to close soon), numerous eateries of all types, barber shops, salons, and gift shops. The Capitol even has two different banks (credit unions) and a social security office. All that Congress is missing is a DMV, some bars and a hotel and people would never leave. British Parliament has a bar for staff and members, which is something that’d probably promote bi-partisan unity and more interesting exchanges on the floor.
Do Congressman really know you by name?
It depends. If you’re an intern or new in your office, they’ll know your name on the first day when they meet you, but other than that — you will be nameless for a few months or years. If you’re in the House, your boss will likely learn your name quite quickly since House offices tend to have about 9 people or less in them at all times. Senate offices are a different stories. Clearly there are exceptions if the Congressman is old and senile.
The people who get the most love are schedulers and chiefs of staff. Committee staff, too. Members have reason to know these focal point staffers more than they do, say your run of the mill intern.
Special exception: Tons of people got on the Hill because of “who their daddy is.” Most of these people are interns, since members aren’t dumb enough to hire them for high-level positions. Usually, these kids burn out and become lobbyists, or the good ones go and work for another member someday to get promoted.
Thanks for your questions this week. If you have a question for me, shoot it over in the form or leave a question in the comments!
ClotureGirl interviews The Cribline 
The Constitution doesn’t require the President to appear before Congress for SOTU. It doesn’t even require him to give a speech. Until Pres Wilson, most presidents just sent an annual written report.