BLACK CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS CALL FOR CHANGE

They say better pay, greater diversity is needed at Capitol

When Chanda Jefferson, a science teacher from Columbia, S.C., got the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill, she was thrilled to use her classroom experience to help shape education policy. She also hoped that when her fellowship was over, she could expose her students at home to a different, exciting career path.

It wasn’t until she arrived that she realized how impervious the halls of Congress were to change. In her office of more than a dozen people, there are no permanent Black staff members.

“It was shocking to see so few individuals that look like me,” Jefferson said. “In order for us to have legislation to represent everyone in the United States of America, we need to hear from diverse voices.”

Now Black staffers are sounding the alarm on a “painful” two years, including the coronavirus pandemic and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, that they say have exacerbated the challenges they face in pursuing a career on the Hill.

In a letter published Friday, two congressional staff associations called for better pay and “a stronger collegeto-Congress pipeline” to recruit Black graduates. They also urged voters to push lawmakers to diversify their staff. Published on behalf of more than 300 Black staff members who work in the House and the Senate, it offers a glimpse at the experiences of those who work behind the scenes drafting policy, interacting with constituents and advancing the agendas of members of Congress.

“Today, we are sending a message to America. We come to you as Black congressional staffers on Capitol Hill. We come as proud public servants,” the letter published by the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus and the Congressional Black Associates said. “We believe that if the United States Congress wants to hold steadfast to its representative form of government, then congressional staffers hired to construct and inform legislation should be reflective of the United States’ population.”

Diversity has always been a challenge on Capitol Hill. While the 117th Congress is the most diverse yet — the percentage of Black lawmakers in the House is nearly equal to that of Black Americans, according to the Pew Research Center — representation among congressional staff falls far short of reflecting the population of the United States.

LaShonda Brenson, senior fellow of diversity and inclusion with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which tracks racial diversity in congressional offices, said she was seeing a trend of top Black staff leaving Capitol Hill, eroding their already scarce numbers. Only 11 percent of top Senate staff are people of color, compared with 40 percent of the country’s population, according to a 2020 report from the Joint Center.

Currently, about 3 percent of those top staffers are Black, and only two are chiefs of staff, the highest staff position in a congressional office, which is also responsible for hiring. There are no Black staff directors of full Senate committees. While the House has almost 30 Black chiefs of staff, Brenson said they are “disproportionately concentrated” in the offices of Black members of Congress.

“We think that this is an issue that the American people should know about,” said Jazmine Bonner, president of the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus. “At the end of the day, what happens in Congress affects you, directly or indirectly.”

The recent departures of Black staff members can partly be attributed to turnover among all Capitol Hill staff with the start of a new administration, Brenson said. But she added that the positions were not necessarily being filled with candidates of color because of issues like low pay, the high cost of living in Washington and the insular culture of Capitol Hill. Bonner added that these hurdles disproportionately affect Black professionals, who often come from communities with limited opportunities.