From Politico Magazine, March 7:
We interviewed Democrats and Republicans — on the record and anonymously — about life on Capitol Hill, what broke Congress and a whole lot more.
This article was compiled from interviews conducted by Ben Jacobs, Jasper Goodman, Jordain Carney, Jennifer Scholtes, Hailey Fuchs, Emma Dumain, Lisa Kashinsky, Connor O’Brien, Holly Otterbein, Adam Wren, Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu. Juan Benn Jr. contributed to this report.
It’s hard to find an institution the public loathes more than Congress. But guess what? A lot of the people in Congress aren’t so happy with it either.
To get an inside look at what it’s like to serve on Capitol Hill — after years of gridlock, government shutdowns and now another Donald Trump stampede through Washington — we sat down with 25 lawmakers who were ready to dish.
We talked about what they hate and love about Congress, why it’s broken and how to fix it (one suggestion: bring back the powdered wigs). They also told us what would really shock the public if they knew the truth about life as a lawmaker (it’s what’s for dinner).
We had delicate conversations about aging lawmakers’ increasingly public deterioration (one member said he has up to a dozen colleagues who aren’t up to the job) and whether people are actually showing up drunk on the floor (it’s not a “no”), as well as the survival mechanisms that get them through a grueling day. And we talked politics, including whether Democrats have learned any lessons at all from their 2024 defeat and whether Mike Johnson would still be hanging on as speaker at the end of the year (maybe!).
We spoke with Democrats and Republicans, men and women, members of the House and Senate. And to get as candid a view of the truth as possible, we allowed lawmakers to withhold their names from attribution on any comment they’d like, though only a couple people took us up on the offer. Most were eager to let loose on the record.
Here’s what they said, edited for length and clarity.
“How absolutely lame it is. You honestly think that life is full of House of Cards or snappy dialogue out of The West Wing. And it’s sad. You’re constantly living out of a suitcase.” — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)
“It is an endless grind that is far less romantic than people might think.” — Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)
“Everybody thinks that we fly around on Air Force One and dine at the French embassy every night. But the reality is, I’m eating burritos and McDonald’s more often than I’m dining in any embassies. It’s also a lonely life. It’s really hard to establish friendships, just because the pace is so breakneck.” — Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
“If people knew the truth about the compensation of a congressman, they would be shocked. I have people who land in the airport here and call me and ask, can I send my car for them. I mean, my first term up here I didn’t even own a car.” — Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.)
“I got elected in 2018, and one of the first things I had to do was to go sit in a classified briefing. I’m sitting there and I’m furiously taking notes. And I look at Elissa Slotkin and raise my eyebrows to her, and she raises her eyebrows back at me. In my head, I’m thinking, ‘Man, I’m swimming with the big fish now. I’m vibing with the CIA officers.’ And we walk out and she goes, ‘The fuck are you doing taking notes in a classified briefing?’ You effectively get a security clearance without a background check.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
“It’s common to book out members’ time in 15-minute increments. I can just be getting into a conversation with people that are sitting down with me, and then there’s the knock at my office door: ‘Congressman, we need to be wrapping up.’ It’s alien to me.” — Rep. Jefferson Shreve (R-Ind.)
“How good of friends some of us are, whose political ideologies are totally separate from each other. Some of my best friends up here are members of the progressive caucus. We go out, have dinner and a beer, and we can even tell jokes with each other, as long as nobody’s listening.” — Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.)....
....MUCH MORE
