Former Members Speak on Threats and Violence

From the University of Massachusetts at Amherst: The increased level of political violence that members of Congress fear and experience today has emerged as a common thread across political party affiliations in an extensive new survey of nearly 300 former members of...

Congress Should Meet the Moment

Nan Swift at LegBranch.org: Years of short-changing the legislative branch have significantly undermined congressional capacity. But by adopting many of the recommendations made by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, Congress can be better...

Young Public Servants

Annie Karni at NYT: When an alarmed Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, called the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, demanding to know why the president of the United States had suggested he was coming to the Capitol while Congress met to certify his...

Working on the Hill

William Gray at LegBranch.org: In 2011, the Congressional Management Foundation surveyed more than 1,400 congressional staff and asked an open-ended question: What does working in Congress mean to you? They received more than 600 responses and the answers are just as...

Paying Congressional Staff

Jim Kolbe and Vic Fazio at the Arizona Daily Star: Whether as a member or a staffer, working on Capitol Hill is a public service and inevitably comes with sacrifice, including a lower salary than the private sector. However, the current Congress doesn’t just ask for...