Faye Cobb: Democratic clerk, House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch

If she has anything to say about it, there is no alternate reality where Faye Cobb would be doing anything other than what she’s doing right now as a behind-the-scenes funding negotiator for House Democrats.

“It was always this. When I see the Capitol, I am still in awe,” said Cobb, the party’s clerk for the House Appropriations subcommittee that crafts the annual legislative branch funding bill, in an interview.

Cobb, a graduate of the University of Maryland, arrived in Congress in 2005 to serve as the financial counseling director for the Chief Administrative Office. There, she transitioned into the budget director role, then served as a professional staff member for the House Appropriations Committee before taking over her current position.

Cobb said her day-to-day schedule consists of “a lot of listening.” 

“All of these agencies under the legislative branch actually make Congress run and listening to those people is the major point of my job. To listen to what those needs are, what resources are necessary, and then [take] that information back to our ranking members so that they can make decisions on how to fund them.”

Despite the partisan tensions evident in recent funding fights, Cobb stressed that bipartisanship exists behind the curtain.

“The lights have to work. The restrooms have to work,” she said. “We all need help with drafting legislation. [The Congressional Research Service] needs to be available. There’s just some things that are unique under the legislative branch, that, between the two parties and between the House and Senate, they have to exist.”

The subcommittee crafts annual funding bills for congressional operations, as well as agencies like the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Library of Congress, and the Architect of the Capitol.

Cobb said she sees the “full circle” of the funding subcommittee’s work on the U.S. Capitol campus, from the droves of visitors who arrive at Congress daily to witnessing the additional resources secured for the Capitol Police.

“Witnessing members on the floor when they draft their legislation, knowing that, through the clerk’s office and through the legislative council office, that, because we funded those offices, members have the resources they need in order to make sure they draft legislation on behalf of their constituents,” she said. “All of these things [together] are things that make me feel rewarded.”

But she also wishes more people understood the power of the committee.

“When we increase budgets or decrease funding, it has an immediate impact on people in your communities,” she said.