EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST STATE OF THE CONGRESS: Staff Perspectives on Institutional Capacity in the House and Senate Funded by a grant from Democracy Fund EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST STATE OF THE CONGRESS: Staff Perspectives on Institutional Capacity in the House and Senate By Kathy Goldschmidt Director of Strategic Initiatives Congressional Management Foundation Funded by a grant from © 2017, Congressional Management Foundation. llA rights reserved. This content is the intellectual property of the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), and is protected by Title 17 of the United States Code covering copyright law. 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Congressional Management Foundation 710 E Street SE Washington, D.C. 20003 202-546-0100 CongressFoundation.org @CongressFdn EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST 3 | State of the Congress: Staff Perspectves on Insttutonal Capacity in the House and Senate TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 About the Congressional Management Foundaton 4 About This Report 5 Introducton 9 Figure 1. Benchmarks for Congressional Performance by Gap 10 Findings 10 Figure 2. Staff Knowledge, Skills and Abilites 11 Figure 3. Human Resource Infrastructure 14 Figure 4. Time and Resources for Legislaton 15 Figure 5. Trends in Commitee and Subcommitee Meetngs 17 Figure 6. Access to Nonpartsan Legislatve Branch Informaton 18 Figure 7. Trends in Commitee Staffing 20 Figure 8. Technological Infrastructure 20 Figure 9. Technological Accessibility Senators and Representatves lack the necessary tme and resources to understand, consider and deliberate public policy and legislaton. 24 Figure 10. Capacity to Perform Role in Democracy 26 Figure 11. Understanding of Role in Democracy 27 Conclusion 30 Methodology 31 Figure 12. About the Respondents 32 Acknowledgements 33 About the Author 34 Appendices 34 Appendix A. Results for All Senior Staffers 35 Appendix B. Selected Works Consulted © Congressional Management Foundaton, CongressFoundaton.org EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST State of the Congress: Staff Perspectves on Insttutonal Capacity in the House and Senate | 4 About the Congressional Management Foundaton The Congressional Management Foundaton (CMF) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartsan nonprofit whose mission is to build trust and effectveness in Congress. We do this by enhancing the performance of the insttuton, legislators and their staffs through research-based educaton and training, and by strengthening the bridge between Congress and the People it serves. Since 1977 CMF has worked internally with Member, commitee, leadership, and insttutonal offices in the House and Senate to identfy and disseminate best practces for management, workplace environment, communicatons, and consttuent services. CMF also is the leading researcher and trainer on citzen engagement, educatng thousands of individuals and facilitatng beter understanding, relatonships, and communicatons with Congress. About This Report This report grew out of the work of the Resilient Democracy Coalition (RDC). Many smart, dedicated people inside and outside of Congress are thinking of ways to support Congress in being as informed, responsive and effective—as resilient—as the nation needs it to be. Through a one-year grant from Democracy Fund in 2016, the Congressional Management Foundation, in collaboration with Voice of the People (VOP), the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate (EMKI), and Lorelei Kelly, explored possibilities for bringing some of these people together to facilitate informaton-sharing and collaboraton for positve insttutonal change in Congress. RDC researchers conducted 35 interviews—and built on scores of others—with current and former Members of Congress, congressional staffers, and insttutonalists close to Congress about what it would take to build a resilient Congress. The findings primarily centered on concerns about Congress’ capacity to perform its democratc role in modern society. Based on those findings, the researchers hosted roundtables to discuss key issues, engaged in thought leadership in a range of venues, and conducted the research that resulted in this report. © Congressional Management Foundaton, CongressFoundaton.org EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST 5 | State of the Congress: Staff Perspectves on Insttutonal Capacity in the House and Senate INTRODUCTION Americans widely believe that Congress is not working because it does not want to work. Conventonal wisdom holds that the blame for any democratic dysfunction lies primarily with current occupants of Capitol Conventonal wisdom Hill. The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) offers an holds that the blame for alternatve perspectve. Congress may not be working well because it any democratc does not currently have the capacity to work well. dysfuncton lies primarily with current In campaign ads, television shows, movies, and the news, Congress is occupants of Capitol portrayed as lavish, profligate and corrupt, but this is not the case. The Hill. CMF offers an reality is that most of the 541 Senators, Representatves, and Delegates alternatve perspectve. in Congress are honorable, dedicated individuals trying to represent Congress may not be their consttuents and the country as best they can. However, the working well because it processes, rules, practces, and external forces that influence our does not currently have democracy have changed in ways that are making it very difficult for legislators to effectvely fulfill their mission. the capacity to work well. Within this context, and because there is an urgent need to quantfy and correct these corrosive effects in the Congress, CMF conducted a survey of senior staff in U.S. Senators’ and Representatves’ offices to understand their perceptons of certain aspects of congressional performance. These staffers are on the front lines of democracy in both Washington, D.C., and back home in congressional districts and states. Their opinions are key to understanding and assessing congressional performance. We wanted to hear from the individuals most integrated with the work of Senators and Representatves about where insttutonal problems lie. Our goal is to lay a foundaton for benchmarking, assessing, and beter understanding congressional performance, so that any proposed solutons address the core symptoms of what ails the insttuton. To collect senior staffers’ feedback, we adapted several benchmarks for democratc legislatures from work being done internatonally.1 In the past decade, non-governmental organizatons (NGOs), legislators and legislatve staff throughout the world have given considerable thought to defining what is required for a democratc legislature to functon effectvely. The efforts have led to a compelling body of benchmarks and 1 | Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures (pdf). Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Institute and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, 2006. More detailed information can be found in the Study Group Report (pdf) on the benchmark development process. © Congressional Management Foundaton, CongressFoundaton.org EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM EST State of the Congress: Staff Perspectves on Insttutonal Capacity in the House and Senate | 6 assessment tools for citzens and legislatures to measure legislatve capacity and performance.2 “People will put up with a lot when inspired by We used a subset of the benchmarks to develop survey questons for their work and their senior staffers, and we received 184 responses from Chiefs of Staff, boss, but there is a Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Legislatve Directors, Communicatons Directors, breaking point and I District Directors (House), and State Directors (Senate). We surveyed think that every office is staff on 11 key aspects relatng to insttutonal capacity and public getng close to access. We asked staff how important each aspect was for the effectve significant staff functoning of their chamber, and how satsfied they were with their disruptons that will chamber’s performance for that aspect. Figure 1 shows the 11 aspects limit the members' and we explored, the percentages of senior staffers who considered each the insttuton's ability aspect “very important,” and the percentage who were “very satsfied” to functon.” with that aspect. Clearly, senior staffers have concerns about some of the foundatonal aspects of legislatve performance. —House District Director More specifically, the key findings are that senior staffers feel: 1. Congress needs to improve staff knowledge, skills and abilites. Talented and experienced employees are the most valuable assets in any knowledge-based workplace, and Congress is one of the most important, complex, and informaton-rich knowledge-based