A long house- to- House commute
California lawmakers juggle family and work on weekends between cross- country flights.
House members stream down the Capitol steps early on a Wednesday evening, just after the last votes of the week. Some lawmakers linger, planning to f ly home the next morning, but Rep. Juan Vargas rushes down the steps in jeans and a windbreaker — his travel wear.
At the nearest intersection, an aide hails a taxi and hands his boss an overnight bag. Vargas is hoping to catch an evening f light out of Baltimore, an hour’s drive away, and be home 2,700 miles across the country in San Diego before his daughter goes to bed.
“Even though she’s 14, she still loves to be put to bed with a prayer,” said Vargas, a Democrat who is a former Jesuit missionary. “I try very, very hard to get there.”
For decades, many members of Congress relocated their families to Washington. But in late 1994, when Republicans took control of the House for the f irst time in 40 years, incoming Speaker Newt Gingrich encouraged his party’s members to leave their families in their districts, to emphasize their independence from Washington and their roots among constituents.
House leaders subsequently have built more home time into the congressional calendar, scheduling work for three weeks a month and limiting important votes to three days a week, typically Tuesday through Thursday. Even representatives of distant districts can travel home each weekend. Consequently, Congress has spent less time in Washington over the last two decades.
For most members, weekly commuting is now a routine of congressional life. It’s an aspect of the job that many Americans have come to expect from their representatives, but one that many lawmakers aren’t fully prepared for.
For Californians, the cross- continent commute makes for an especially arduous job of juggling time for constituents and families, as a recent spring weekend among the state’s representatives illustrated.
Travel time
Most lawmakers blend into the crush of tourists and travelers at the airport, shuffling through the boarding line with everyone else.
“Everybody thinks that we have special privileges for security and tickets, and we don’t actually. We just go through TSA pre[- check] like everybody else,” Rep. Judy Chu ( D- Monterey Park) said.
With taxpayers covering the travel costs, members of Congress must buy economy- class tickets. But, Chu added, “because we’re frequent f liers we get upgrades. I have a million miles.”
It’s not always clear what day the House will leave when the “week” in Washington begins. Congressional aides normally reserve several f lights for their bosses and cancel unneeded ones later.
A direct f light to California is at least f ive hours. Aides try to avoid time- sucking layovers, but that often isn’t possible for those not f lying into major cities.
Rep. David Valadao ( R-Hanford) said he’s in the air at least 12 hours a week to get between Fresno and Washington, and layovers in Den- ver or Dallas can mean additional travel hours.
“If I miss the f light in Denver, I’ll go through L. A. and drive through the night, walk through the door at 2, 3 in the morning,” Valadao said. “But at least I’m there when the kids wake up.”
On planes, members read emails and policy papers, prepare for speeches or town hall meetings, or catch up on favorite shows.
“It’s also my time, which I admit is kind of a sad way to look at it,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta ( D- Carmel), who says he knew what to expect given his travels with his long- serving father, former Rep. Leon Panetta.
“I can catch up on the articles, do some work, but if I want to have a Scotch, I’ll have a Scotch.”
Family time, sort of
At 7: 48 a. m. Saturday, Rep. Jimmy Gomez hoists his 11- year- old terrier mix, Austin, over his shoulder and marches up a steep incline at Los Angeles’ Debs Park. Gomez, one of the city’s Democratic representatives, tries to identify birds along the trail between chatting with his wife, Mary Hodge, about what chores await at home and where they should go for a latenight snack.
“I love kind of running into people on the streets and talking to them about what they care about. Sometimes they just want to say hello,” Gomez said. “They appreciate it. They feel like you still care about the neighborhood and you haven’t ‘ gone Washington.’ ”
After checking in with a local guide about a bird he couldn’t identify ( a California scrub jay), Gomez hops into a car waiting at the end of the trail to take him to an Earth Day event, where he’ll help clean up the Los Angles River. Hodge and Austin head home in the family car.
Vargas, the San Diego representative, said he tries to align his schedule with his teenage daughters’ when he is home, and not to be conf licted about the time away.
“You have to remember that what you’re doing here is very important,” Vargas said during an interview in Washington. “We’re a very religious family and so always I tell them this is part of the sacrifices you make for the greater good. God gave us this opportunity — take the opportunity.”
Many in the California delegation said Sundays are family time. Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from Redlands, said he and his wife, Alisha, let their two young children plan the day.
Rep. Mimi Walters ( R-Irvine) tries to leave Sunday mornings for Mass and brunch with her mom and dad. “As I’ve gotten older and I watch my parents get older, I have much more appreciation for life and for family,” she said. Constituent time
At 8: 37 a. m. on a Sunday, morning haze obscures the L. A. skyline, but sunlight streams through a wall of windows at Rep. Karen Bass’ home. She scrambles eggs, pours orange juice and toasts sourdough bread.
Her bag is packed for her 4 p. m. f light to Washington. First, however, she and another Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, will answer questions at a town hall at the Iman Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Later, she’ll hold a fundraiser.
“What people don’t realize is we work seven days a week,” Bass said. “When I’m here, there’s always events.... Doing laundry and going to the store is like a real treat.”
Many members routinely hold weekend town hall meetings or host other public events: Rep. Ro Khanna ( D- Fremont) has Sunday “office hours” at a Starbucks. Others hold smaller, less public events to learn about what’s going on in the district: Rep. Steve Knight ( R- Palmdale) had a school safety discussion with Antelope Valley school administrators on a recent Friday.
As aides to Rep. Nanette Barragán began tossing a baseball in a Compton park on a Sunday afternoon, kids started drifting over from the jungle gym to join in. A smattering of parents walked over to talk with the congresswoman.
The San Pedro Democrat said she tries to focus on a different part of her South L. A. district each weekend.
She usually takes a redeye f light to Washington on Sunday night, to have time there Monday to make fundraising calls while her colleagues are returning.
“If you’re on a f light on Monday morning, you lose a whole day,” Barragán said.