Headed to the Hill. Tell me what I need to know.

[Anonymous]

Native Washingtonian. Not my first time on the Hill, but my experience was all early 1990s, so I'm not sure how much of that will carry into 2013.

What do I need to know? Really practical advice appreciated. My position is not one of great power, nor is the Congressperson's office.

[Anonymous]

Stay away from the men's bathroom on the 6th floor in the southwest corner of Rayburn.

[Anonymous]

Not Rayburn -- Longworth!

[Anonymous]

Welcome to August vacation schedules.

[Anonymous]

You will be judged on your reputation. Be professional, cool & capable, and cheerful. And be willing to stay late, but don't do it unless there's a need (ie, a big project/event) or else you'll look like you can't finish your work during regular hours.

What brings you back to the Hill???

[Anonymous]

Technology has changed things dramatically since you were there. In the 90's, you probably spent most of your time on the phone, answering the same question over and over again. Now, you tell one person something and it's all over town in about 30 seconds. It saves time, but things also move much faster. The news cycle is almost instantaneous, and your boss can say something and it will be coming across Politico Pro before you know he/she has said it.

Information is also so much easier to get. We used to all have tons of paper in our office on whatever subject we were working on at the time. Don't bother keeping paper -- it just clutters up your office, and if you need it again, either it's on line or it can be obtained again easily.

The gift rules have changed dramatically since you were there. Travel to get first-hand information about something is much harder to do (which is a bad thing imo). Staff is mostly stuck in the DC bubble, trying to figure out (or not) what is going on in the real world.

People talk about things being much more partisan, but that is not really true of the House, in my opinion. The Majority has always treated the Minority badly in the House.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Technology has changed things dramatically since you were there. In the 90's, you probably spent most of your time on the phone, answering the same question over and over again. Now, you tell one person something and it's all over town in about 30 seconds. It saves time, but things also move much faster. The news cycle is almost instantaneous, and your boss can say something and it will be coming across Politico Pro before you know he/she has said it.

Information is also so much easier to get. We used to all have tons of paper in our office on whatever subject we were working on at the time. Don't bother keeping paper -- it just clutters up your office, and if you need it again, either it's on line or it can be obtained again easily.

The gift rules have changed dramatically since you were there. Travel to get first-hand information about something is much harder to do (which is a bad thing imo). Staff is mostly stuck in the DC bubble, trying to figure out (or not) what is going on in the real world.

People talk about things being much more partisan, but that is not really true of the House, in my opinion. The Majority has always treated the Minority badly in the House.

I think this is the biggest thing. It's not as much fun b/c the gift rules changed. It seems more demanding. Staff used to be able to work like crazy and rely on the times when Congress is out of session. Now it seems like those days are over. You work 365 days a year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Technology has changed things dramatically since you were there. In the 90's, you probably spent most of your time on the phone, answering the same question over and over again. Now, you tell one person something and it's all over town in about 30 seconds. It saves time, but things also move much faster. The news cycle is almost instantaneous, and your boss can say something and it will be coming across Politico Pro before you know he/she has said it.

Information is also so much easier to get. We used to all have tons of paper in our office on whatever subject we were working on at the time. Don't bother keeping paper -- it just clutters up your office, and if you need it again, either it's on line or it can be obtained again easily.

The gift rules have changed dramatically since you were there. Travel to get first-hand information about something is much harder to do (which is a bad thing imo). Staff is mostly stuck in the DC bubble, trying to figure out (or not) what is going on in the real world.

People talk about things being much more partisan, but that is not really true of the House, in my opinion. The Majority has always treated the Minority badly in the House.

Yeah, I was an 80's Hill-ite. I can't imagine the demands of the new technology. Ugh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the men's bathroom on the 6th floor in the southwest corner of Rayburn.

NP here. Why?!?!

[Anonymous]

Stay late even if you don't have work to do. Just being there counts for a lot. If your member is a policy wonk, you will work a lot because your boss wants to do things. If your member is a fame whore, you will work a lot to prevent him/her from looking stupid because s/he has no real interest in knowing the issues. the in the middle of the road offices are less demanding.

the biggest thing for me and why I won't work on the Hill, is that so much work goes into so much legislation that goes no where. All this time spent drafting editing negotiating to introduce a bill that no one co-sponsors or ever gets put to debate or vote.

the only purpose is for the member to go home and say, "here look what I did I championed your cause but the "do nothing Congress" didn't do anything. I'm your friend the rest of Congress is useless, blah blah blah."

I find it too depressing to know how much of the work is ultimately meaningless and therefore I don't work on the Hill.

Also it is a lot easier to kill legislation than to pass it, so if you want to look like you are accomplishing something, just block everything. (damn tea-partiers they figured that trick out)