“…We appreciated the conclusions drawn in the CAO’s July 2021 report on staff pay and benefits, which affirmed the challenge the House is facing,” Hoyer and Jeffries wrote in their letter.  “…The new Task Force on a Diverse and Talented Workforce is a positive step, and it is one that reflects the clear commitment of the CAO to address this issue.   We hope that the Task Force on a Diverse and Talented Workforce completes its work in time to include in its final report and recommendations as many of the above policies as is fiscally feasible.  We hope that your committees work to develop legislative language and appropriate funding levels so that we can begin their implementation in the Fiscal Year 2023 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act.”   “As we have written previously, we believe strongly that making positive changes to staff pay and benefits policies will have an enormously beneficial effect on the operations of the House and of Members’ and committees’ ability to serve the American people,” the letter continues.  “Making pay and benefits more competitive will help ensure that we can attract and retain the most talented and hardworking individuals to serve as House staff.  Doing so will also improve staff diversity by making House employment more accessible to those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and to those obligated to repay expensive student loans.  Already, the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion is helping to grow our institutional capacity and provides a helpful tool for Members, committees, and leadership offices as they seek to recruit a more diverse workforce.”

To read their letter in full, click here or see below:  

April 27, 2022

Dear Chairwomen DeLauro and Lofgren:   Thank you for your leadership in securing a major step toward improving staff recruitment and retention in Congress.  In Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations, Congress increased the Member Representational Allowance (MRA) across the board by 21% in order to provide House staff with a long-overdue salary catch-up.  This will make a big difference for staff morale and for the effectiveness of the legislative branch to fulfill its responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government under our Constitution.   As a follow-up to that successful effort, we write in support of including language in the Fiscal Year 2023 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act that employees supported by MRA, committee, and leadership budgets should receive the same 4.6% cost-of-living adjustment in Calendar Year 2023 that President Biden has proposed for all federal civilian employees and uniformed personnel.  We are also asking that your committees work together to find a way to link the House’s maximum salary cap to that of Level II executive-branch senior appointed officials statutorily, similar to current Senate practice, while continuing to preserve the Speaker’s flexibility to adjust that level as needed.  We must continue to do whatever we can to ensure that Members, committees, and leadership offices can recruit and retain the most talented Americans to serve the legislative branch and that our workforce is diverse and reflective of our nation.    Along with Chairwoman Lofgren, we sent a letter last May outlining several possible reforms to employee benefits.  Among those possible benefit enhancements we suggested were:  

• Reimbursing staff for the costs of adoption or fertility treatment not covered by insurance;
• Providing child-care subsidies for staffers who do not use the House daycare;
• Offering staff access to a tax-advantaged “529” or college-savings benefit;
• Making staff eligible for the Public-Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program through the U.S. Department of Education and ensuring coverage for the repayment of private student loans as well;
• Extending to staff a first-time homebuyer’s assistance benefit; and
• Enabling staff of offices that are closing down operations to stay on the House payroll for sixty additional days past the date of office closure, a benefit the Senate already extends to its workforce.

STENY H. HOYER House Majority Leader

HAKEEM JEFFRIES Chair, House Democratic Caucus