Half of senior staffers in US Congress are so fed up that they may quit

Here's the report the article is based on:

State of the Congress 2024

Here's a description of the survey:

Between August and November 2023, CMF invited via email more than 2,700 senior staffers in the House and Senate to participate in a survey about civility, capacity, and functionality in Congress. Of those invited, 138 completed the survey, a response rate of 5%. The respondents are experienced, with 55% having worked for Congress for more than 10 years. Almost three-quarters (74%) are Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Legislative Directors, committee or subcommittee Staff Directors, or District or State Directors, and 53% were born before 1980. They lean slightly Democrat (57%) and female (57%), and, like most of the senior positions in Congress, they lean heavily White (86%).

From the article:

Only about one in five senior aides on Capitol Hill believe that Congress is “functioning as a democratic legislature should,” and about the same margin believe that it is “an effective forum for debate” on key issues.

Given those assessments by the people who live and breathe these issues, this particularly glum finding should not come as a surprise: Almost half of senior congressional aides are considering leaving the Hill because of “heated rhetoric from the other party.”

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Some circumstances have gotten much better for staff members. Starting in 2019, a select committee tasked with “modernizing” Congress instituted changes that gave aides more access to policy expertise and offered more professional human resources.

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Perhaps more importantly, thanks to a bipartisan agreement to pour more funds into staff salaries, the budget for all 435 offices in the House went from a little more than $550 million in the middle of last decade to $810 million last year.

And, while members of Congress refuse to take the politically risky step of giving themselves a pay hike — keeping their pay at $174,000, adopted in 2009 — they freed up limits a couple of years ago on senior staff so that they can make more money than lawmakers.

From 2019 through 2023, the average staffer on Capitol Hill saw a 33 percent raise, up to almost $74,000 per year, according to an analysis by Legistorm. Moreover, the very top aides, who receive the most attractive offers for lobbying and consulting gigs in the private sector, have seen large, well-deserved bumps in pay.

Chiefs of staff in the Senate now average $194,000, almost 12 percent more than their bosses take home, and many more north of $200,000. The average House chief now makes $178,000. A Senate legislative director in early 2019 might have made $140,000, but now that same top policy staffer averages almost $160,000.

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Now, congressional aides have noticed the changes, obviously welcoming higher paychecks but also the additional resources their offices have. From 2022 to 2023, the foundation found a 20 percent jump in senior aides saying they were “very satisfied” to have “access to high-quality, nonpartisan policy expertise.”

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What’s driving this new bout of staff departures is the overall environment on Capitol Hill. That includes pandemic fallout, ranging from partisan battles over mask mandates to the long closure of the buildings to the public. It also accounts for the ongoing toxicity since the January 2021 attack on the Capitol. These factors have added to an institution that was already pretty partisan.

Lawmakers themselves are incredibly fed up with the institution. Next month, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will resign his seat, the seventh member of the House to quit midterm for the private sector, a historically unusual amount.

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Slightly more senior Democratic staff members said they were considering leaving because of the GOP’s “heated rhetoric” than did Republican aides when considering Democratic rhetoric. But almost 6 in 10 senior Republican staffers said they were thinking about leaving their jobs because of the actions of “my party.”

Most congressional aides have gone to college and studied public policy or political science, and maybe have an advanced degree in law or some key issue area. They largely come to Washington to try to shape things toward their party’s ideological vision of things.

But now, too often, newer members of Congress show up without much concern about policy and instead focus on their communications staff and getting attention on social media and cable news.

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Threats of violence have now become a regular backdrop to the work of senior staff. Less than one in five express being “very satisfied” that lawmakers and aides “feel safe doing their jobs,” with a bit more saying they are somewhat satisfied.

GOP aides said they feel safer, but not by much. And aides from both parties find threats to be an almost regular part of their job.

Four in 10 senior aides — an identical amount in each party — reported that “direct insulting or threatening messages” occur frequently or very frequently while doing their jobs.