Congress increased Member resources to attract and retain America’s best and brightest.
Why This Matters
Each appropriations cycle, Congress meticulously reviews and decides on its own operational funding through the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, the smallest of the twelve Appropriations subcommittees. Over the course of the last several decades, spending on the Legislative branch has increased at half the rate of overall spending — a restraint that stems from concerns that increased allocations for Congress might appear self-serving. This longstanding practice has significantly hindered Congress from strengthening its internal operations and offering competitive salaries, contributing to its so-called “brain drain.”
From interns through full-time hires, Congress has struggled to recruit and retain experienced professionals to serve Members, committees, and the institution overall, resulting in a younger, less-experienced workforce that is more easily influenced by special interests and lobbyists. However, recent House investments in its workforce through HR resources, better pay, benefits, professional development, and more has begun to stem the tide.
How It Happened
The Member Representational Allowance (MRA) is a Representative’s annual budget within the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that funds all operating expenses of their Congressional offices both in DC and in their district. In total, the MRAs of the 441 Members of Congress and Delegates accounts for 10 to 12% of the Legislative branch’s total annual budget. Although the MRA was originally based on a formula that would account for inflation, changes in cost of living, etc., MRA amounts have been underfunded for the last several congresses due to an institutional aversion against increasing its own budget and resources.
For more than a decade, the compensation and benefits for Congressional staff in Member offices, leadership offices, and committees have increasingly lagged behind those available in the private sector and federal agencies. From 2011 to 2021, House staff salaries were effectively cut 20% when adjusting for inflation. Concurrently, the cost of living in the nation's capital has significantly increased, making it all the more necessary to offer competitive employee salaries so Members have the capacity for policymaking and to serve their constituents.
In April 2021, Reps. Hoyer [D, MD] and Jeffries [D, NY] proposed a 20% increase in funding for the MRA, committees, and leadership offices. In a parallel move in June 2021, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez [D, NY], backed by 110 House Democrats — a majority of the caucus — championed a letter calling for a 21% boost in funding for the MRA, committee budgets, and leadership office budgets for FY22. The call to raise MRA funding in FY2022 was also supported by civil society organizations. Congress responded to the calls, and approved a 21% increase in the MRA for FY22, the largest increase in the fund’s history. And yet, even with this boost, Congress only restored its funding to FY2010 levels, when adjusting for inflation.
In 2023, CHA and the Appropriations Committee partnered together with CAO to review and revive a formula-based MRA, boosting all Representatives’ operational capacity and providing them with funding to attract and retain qualified staff and continually invest in resources to serve their constituents. Additionally, the updated formula is set to automatically recalculate at the beginning of every Congress, ensuring that Members’ resources don’t stagnate again. This progress falls in line with ModCom recommendation #66.
Paying Interns: Member Dedication to Supporting Congress’ Workforce Pipeline
For generations, Congressional internships have offered practical work experience and often serve as an instrumental stepping stone to a career on the Hill. Interns often handle a variety of administrative tasks, support full-time staff on policy or communication projects, and support a Member’s constituent services and community outreach efforts — both in the district and in DC. Unlike their private sector comparisons, Congressional internships typically lacked compensation, limiting the candidate pool to those who could afford to work without pay, limiting opportunities for lower income and other underrepresented young workers. Before 2017, only 10% of Congressional interns were paid.
In 2018, Congress allocated $8.8 million for paid internships for FY19, providing $20,000 to each House office. In FY22, the House also allocated funds to committee and leadership internship positions including:
$15.4 million for Member Offices,
$438,000 for offices of House Leadership,
$1.9 million for House committees, and
$345,584 for the Appropriations Committee.
In FY23, Congress increased the amount to $24.3 million for House paid internships, allocating each office $46,000 to pay its interns. FY24 funding for Congressional paid interns remained at $24.3 million.
Congress saw a need to do more to invest in its interns. For decades, the institution had no dedicated office that kept track of how many paid internship opportunities are available, whether those opportunities are equitably distributed, and if the compensation is sufficient — especially for the many students who work and live in Washington, DC. Members realized that gathering facts and data around these internships was nearly impossible. During the 117th Congress, ModCom held a hearing on Pathways to Congressional Service, and received civil society suggestions, leading to its recommendation to create a House Intern Resources Office to help new interns receive onboard training, learn best practices, and obtain additional support and resources. This recommendation was included in the FY23 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, allocating $350,000 to create the House Intern Resource Office, which was officially launched in spring 2024. This fulfilled ModCom recommendation #110.
The Impact
The House has taken important first steps to rebuild its capacity and workforce. In order to recruit and retain experienced individuals to aid Members both in DC and in their district offices, Congress needs to ensure Members have the resources they need to offer competitive salaries and benefits.
Next Steps
The above successes have created momentum to spur additional reforms, such as ModCom’s bipartisan recommendations to provide Members more staff in their personal offices. Likewise, it’s continuing to explore additional workforce benefits to compete with the Executive branch and private sector through ideas such as ModCom recommendation #99. Additionally, the House and Senate should equally strive to increase recruitment of interns who are more representational of the US population through implementation of ideas such as ModCom recommendations #109 and #112.
Glossary
ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act
AOC = Architect of the Capitol
CHA = Committee on House Administration
CAO = House Chief Administrative Officer
CDTF = Congressional Data Task Force
COLA = Cost-of-Living Adjustment
CPF = Community Project Funding
CR = Continuing Resolution
GAO = Government Accountability Office
GAO STAA = The Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team
GenAI = Generative Artificial Intelligence
HIRO = House Intern Resource Office
HDS = House Digital Service
LIS = Legislative Information Service
LLM = Large Language Model
MIA = Modernization Initiatives Account
ModCom = The House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
ModSub = Subcommittee on Modernization (ModSub) within the Committee on House Administration
MOU = Memorandum of Understanding
NMO = New Member Orientation
OCWR = Office of Congressional Workplace Rights
