Talk:Congressional staff

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I've only begun to search, however it is relatively difficult to find information, whether on Wikipedia or via a Google search, pertaining to makeups of a congressional staff. For example, how many staff members serve a Representative, Senator, or State Rep./Senator, what is their function, salary, etc.? Anyone who can find more information on this topic and add it to this or another appropriate congressional staff article is more than welcome to do so- I for one am curious as to what sorts of staff serve and what their various purposes (specifically) are. Nick Lima 06:11, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

The information is out there, but staff turn over in House or Senate offices can be large, so the information may not always be the most up-to-date. Congressional Quarterly includes staff listings in their member bio books, and there's something called the federal Yellow Book that includes similar information. However, these are expensive and are not available on-line.

GovernmentGuide.com includes a free, nearly up-to-date listing of all congressmen and senators and their staff. www.legistorm.com is a new site that pulls salary information from the public records of the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House. Those publications are not posted on-line, so this is an attempt to make a searchable database. However, the listing is misleading, since the information only displays a 6-month salary, and doesn't account for possible year-end bonuses given to staff that may give an artificial impression of a higher salary.

With that background, here is a basic run down on House and Senate Staff. House offices have around 18 while Senate offices can have up to 40. Members of the congressional leadership may have larger staffs for their leadership roll in addition to their personal offices. These are not legally binding numbers (though I believe the House does set limits on the number of staff). Each member gets a staff allowance, and each member makes his or her own decision on how many people to hire and how much to pay them. House members usually get one district office and staff, while Senators get an allowance for district offices depending on the population of the state. At-Large representatives that serve rural states like Montana or South Dakota often have more than one district office, as well. This 1993 report from the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress in discusses the history of Congressional staff.

Here is a common list, though not all offices will have the same types and number of staff.

• Chief of Staff or Administrative Assistant
  • Runs the office and reports directly to the member or senator. (In some larger offices you might see a Chief of Staff handling overall policy operations in the office, and a separate Administrative Assistant or Office Manager that handles personnel management issues).
• Deputy Chief of Staff
  • Not common in smaller offices
• Executive Assistant or Scheduler
  • Secretary to the senator or member. Sometimes has other duties as well depending on the size of the office.
• Press Secretary or Commnications Director
  • In charge of dealing with the media, constituents, and the public.
• Legislative Director
  • The LD is in charge of the legislative work in the office, and supervises the Legislative Assistants
• Legislative Assistant
  • LAs handle legislative issues within specific fields of study. In the House, and LA can cover 5 or more issues. In the Senate, larger staffs allow LAs to become specialized in just one or two issues.
• Legislative Correspondent (Research Assistant in some Senate offices)
  • Often the "rear guard" of the legislative work. They help draft responses to letters, e-mails, or phone calls the member from constituents
• Staff Assistant
  • the front line in the office, answering phones, opening mail, greeting constituents, giving tours, etc.
• Caseworkers
  • Usually based in the members district offices, they deal directly with constituents. One of the key duties of a member of congress or senator is being an advocate for their constituents before federal agencies. Caseworkers manage those efforts, whether they be dealing with problems with Social Security benefits, Veterans benefits, or other issues before federal agencies.
• Receptionist (often done by a staff assistant or intern)
• Interns, both paid and up-paid
• Congressional Fellows
  • These are often employees of an executive agency department or independent agency detailed to a congressional office or around a year. Not every office has one, but the practice of congressional fellows helps executive branch employees understand the workings of Congress better.

I think there's room for an article on this, but the article would be difficult to adequately cite since each office is different and there are no real set requirements of which I am familiar.Dcmacnut 06:19, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Some useful resources are available at http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Congressional_staff_retention, where Sunlight Foundation staff have gathered a number of reports on staff salaries over time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.204.164.136 (talk) 01:30, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

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