Congressional Staffers Seek Improved Civility, Safety, Bipartisanship on the Hill
It turns out that members of Congressional staffs are just as frustrated with the state of play on Capitol Hill as the public. According to the State of the Congress 2024 Survey from the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), senior staff agree that Congress is not in a good place, blaming toxic culture, leadership issues, safety concerns, and more for perpetuating the sour situation.
The CMF survey received responses from 138 senior staff members from both parties.
Just 19 percent of respondents overall believe Congress “correctly functions as a democratic legislature should.” The number was slightly higher among Republicans (31 percent) than Democrats (12 percent). Republicans were also more likely with Democrats to believe that “Congress is currently an effective forum for debate on questions of public concern.”
Safety and Civility
The survey found that the events of January 6, 2021, continue to reverberate, especially among Democratic staffers.
Only 21 percent of Democratic staff said they were satisfied with the current safety environment, compared to 61 percent of Republican staff. And 68 percent of Democratic staffers and 73 percent of Republican staffers say they receive “direct insulting or threatening messages or communications” somewhat frequently, frequently, or very frequently.
On the topic of civility, both Republicans (85 percent) and Democrats (70 percent) said civility is “very important” and almost all responding said it’s necessary to “collaborate across party lines to best meet the needs of the nation.”
However, zero respondents said they are currently satisfied with the state of bipartisanship and just one percent say they’re satisfied with the state of civility.
Both sides want to see more enforcement of the rules. About two thirds of Republicans and Democrats “strongly agree” that congressional leadership should enforce the rules and norms of civility and decorum in Congress.
However, 56 percent of Republicans feel the current rules are enough to hold members accountable for their words and deeds, while 84 percent of Democrats do not. Democrats were also far more likely to strongly agree that "in the past few years, otherwise non-controversial legislative ideas have failed due to polarization among Senators and Representatives."
Attrition Concerns
The lack of civility and bipartisanship may lead to increased attrition.
A significant number of staffers of both parties (44 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of Democrats) are “considering leaving Congress due to heated rhetoric from the other party.”
However, digging into the numbers finds that significantly more Republicans (59 percent) than Democrats (16 percent) are considering leaving Congress due to "heated rhetoric” from their own party.
Some Improvements
There is some good news in the survey. The survey found that Congress improved from 2022 in areas including legislative functionality, technological infrastructure, congressional capacity and support, HR support, and accountability to the public.
The report attributed some of the improvements to the work of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which developed more than 300 recommendations to improve the way Congress works.
“This shows that a bipartisan group of lawmakers, acting in good faith and in a thoughtful way, can improve our democratic institutions and provide better representation and service to the American public,” said CMF President and CEO Bradford Fitch.
