Scores of new Representatives and Senators will soon be assuming their new roles as members of Congress. One of the most significant transformations any newly elected-member must navigate is the change from thinking largely in personal terms — “what is my message, what are my opinions, what is best for my constituents” — to serving in a diverse institution where working collaboratively and making accommodations to other viewpoints is essential to achieving one’s personal goals.
Based on my 38 years as a House staffer (the last eight as chief of staff to Speaker Nancy Pelosi) and having written two books on recent congressional history, I offer newly minted legislators some unsolicited advice to help them transition into effective public servants.
1. Assemble your staff carefully and manage them wisely. Capitol Hill is full of people who will puff up your ego to serve their own self-interest. Always have someone on your staff who can tell you that you are wrong. Use your staff to make you a better legislator. Let your staff ask a question at a meeting. You pay them lots of money for their expertise and judgment, but too often, they stand silently like ornaments because members don’t want to appear to be dependent on staff. Your people are your team, not just a cheering section to make you look good. And don’t fill your Washington office with campaign staff. Select some people who know issues and how the Hill functions. They will make life a lot easier for you.
2. Assume nothing! Many embarrassing mis-steps occur because novices “assume” Congress works like things did back home. This isn’t the state legislature or city council or your business or law firm. Capitol Hill is unique, for good and bad. Commit yourself to learning how it works: the procedures, the rules and the personalities.
3. Don’t confuse “advocacy” and “politics.” Advocacy is telling people what you want; politics is getting other people to do what you want. These are completely different skills. The campaign is over. Your job in Congress is to get work done, to not to bloviate. If that is your preferred style, trade in your voting card for a soapbox.
4. Don’t get discouraged. Legislating is a marathon, not a sprint — and it can often take two or three Congresses to pass major legislation, which can be discouraging when your term lasts only two years. Your opponents are waiting for you to give up. You rarely win or lose entirely. Our system wasn’t designed to be efficient. After a few months of the molasses-like pace of legislating, you might agree with political scientist George Galloway who observed, “Congress is an oxcart in the age of the atom.” Keep in mind: Galloway said that in 1946.
5. Don’t think that just because you changed the world it is going to remain that way. Don’t be so impressed with a victory that you neglect monitoring its implementation. Many statutes gather dust because disapproving bureaucrats simply ignore them. Also, keep in mind: There’s nothing wrong admitting a law needs modifications, improvements or updating once it encounters the real world outside Washington. That is where the terms “reauthorization” and “technical correction” come from.
6. Be dissatisfied. If you aren’t, get dissatisfied. If you can’t, get out of the business. Politics is about righting wrongs not managing programs or balancing ledgers. There is always something to get angry about. And don’t complain about how hard the job is. No one wants to listen to some $174,000-a-year officeholder complain about how hard they are working.
7. Take your work seriously but not your own importance. An experienced politician once said, “Anytime you think you’re really important, take a ride down the freeway about ten minutes and see who knows who you are.” If you work really hard, acquire sophisticated political skills and achieve some legislative victories, you might — might — achieve higher office. But you probably won’t, so enjoy what you are doing.
8. Become the “go to” expert on some issue. Members seek out knowledgeable colleagues, so become one. Don’t try to master every issue or speak on every subject. As Speaker Sam Rayburn (Texas) once said, “You ain’t learnin’ nothin’ when you’re talkin.’” And don’t make speeches to your colleagues that prolong insufferably long meetings. As Mo Udall (Ariz.) once observed, “Everything has been said, but not everyone has said it.”
9. Get to know your colleagues. Congress was more effective and enjoyable when Members fraternized outside the legislative mosh pit. Go to the gym. Do some traveling with colleagues (stopping at a military base or hospital and receiving a briefing from the embassy staff). Telling constituents about your new buddy from the other party helps to dispel suspicions you’re becoming one of those partisan hacks everyone hates.
10. Don’t live in fear of defeat. Pay attention to your constituents’ needs and opinions, but don’t “twist yourself into a pretzel with those kinds of political calculations,” as one member once advised. You will rarely regret casting a vote of conscience, but a vote against your best judgment can haunt you for a career.
Lastly, incoming Members often ask what to read to make them better legislators. If you need advice on procedure, ask the Parliamentarian. But be sure to read Barbara Tuchman’s The March of Folly, a classic account of how well-intentioned leaders ignore evidence even when they knew doing so would yield catastrophic results. If history is any predictor, you may well find yourself in such a situation sometime during your career on Capitol Hill.
John Lawrence is visiting professor at the University of California Washington Center and author of “Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership 2005-2010” (2022) and “The Class of ’74: Congress After Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship.” He served as Speaker Pelosi’s chief of staff during 2005-2013.