Getting Members Off the Couch: How New Lodging Policies Are Ensuring That More Than Just the Rich Can Serve in Congress
BY AUBREY WILSON & TAYLOR J. SWIFT
Topline
In 2023, the US House of Representatives revised guidance allowing Members to be reimbursed for lodging expenses incurred while in DC fulfilling their official duties. Prior to this rule change, individuals who served in Congress had to personally cover their housing expenses when visiting the nation’s capital – an urban center that has one of the highest costs of living in the country – while also maintaining a personal residence in their home districts. Over the past decades, many Members who are not personally wealthy found themselves unable to afford lodging once they arrived in DC to serve, resulting in many (at times, up to 100) opting to spend nights sleeping on the couches in their official offices. The 2023 guidance change is a long-overdue attempt by the House to responsibly address this Member housing crisis and professionalize the institution’s business practices of lodging reimbursement for official business travel.
Why This Matters
Across the public and private sector, it is standard business practice for travel and lodging expenses to be reimbursable for employees required to travel for business. However, prior to 2023, Members were obligated to personally pay for their lodging costs in Washington, DC on top of maintaining residences in their home districts.
In 2024, the House is scheduled to be in session 114 days. A typical hotel room in DC is about $225 per night, resulting in an annual estimated out-of-pocket, personal expense to Members of $25,650 in lodging fees. This high cost of being in DC to vote is an element of being a Member that deters people from running for office, especially those from non-affluent backgrounds.
To address this disparity, the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress explored bipartisan solutions and recommended the House update its reimbursement practices.
How This Change Happened
To modernize the House’s practices to better align with industry best practice, in 2023, the House revised the Members’ Congressional Handbook to list Members’ official duty station as their home district, allowing Members to be reimbursed for lodging expenses incurred while in DC for official business. This work built upon the attention and research done on this issue by a bipartisan group of Members known as the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, resulting in recommendation #200.
The Impact
Allowing Members to be reimbursed for their lodging while in DC for official business decreased the personal costs of an individual being a Member of Congress, further opening the door to people who are not independently wealthy to be able to pursue a career as a lawmaker in the House. As former Rep. Rodney Davis [R, IL] put it:
“The bottom line is, this is about giving more choices and treating members of Congress like every other employee, not just of government, but throughout the nation.”
Beyond the financial impact aspect, this change in guidance is a step forward in professionalizing the House as a safe and sanitary workplace. The idea of a Member of Congress locking the doors to their office after their staff leave to then sleep on the office couch, sneak down in the morning to the Member gym to shower, and then ensure all traces of the sleepover are cleaned before staff report back to work in the morning raises many workplace concerns and red flags. By providing Members who aren’t able to personally afford lodging in DC the ability to be reimbursed for their official travel, Members are able to get a hotel without wondering how to pay their family’s bills back home in their district.
Next Steps
Reimbursing an elected official’s expenses for being in DC to vote in Congress is a laudable step forward in modernizing the House’s practices to minimize barriers to entry for individuals who are elected to office. To ensure these reimbursement practices are used correctly, Member accountability is key. The Committee on House Administration and Committee on Ethics should consider what additional guidance may be needed to increase transparency without jeopardizing Member privacy and safety.
Further Reforms
Ensuring that any American who wants to run for Congress is not constrained by personal financial barriers once elected to serve is a vital element of our democracy. In addition to aligning House lodging reimbursement practices with industry best practices, Members of the House should champion reforms to standardize annual COLA for Members. The last salary adjustment for Congressmembers occurred in January 2009, marking a 2.8% rise to $174,000.
