A U.S. Representative’s Dynastic Funding
The following post is a mildly modified version of an article I first sent out April 24, 2018. I have not gone to the trouble of updating to current numbers because I expect there has been little change.
Elected U.S. House members establish an almost dynastic presence in their congressional district (e.g. McMorris Rodgers’ Congressional District 5, eastern Washington). That presence shores up their power and makes challenging them an uphill battle. It is more than name recognition—it is also our taxpayer money they are given to manage for the benefit of their constituents.
Like other U.S. Representatives, McMorris Rodgers’ personal salary is $174,000. $174,000 might provide a home and support for a husband and three children in Washington, D.C., but that wouldn’t begin to cover the costs of staff, travel, and maintaining district offices in Spokane, Colville, and Walla Walla. The MRA (Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA), covers those expenses. Both the personal salary and the MRA are separate from all that campaign money McMorris Rodgers raises from entities like the National Rifle Association, Omeros Pharmaceuticals, and benefit auctions of AR-15’s(snideness alert).
The MRA: As explained in a richly referenced article, the Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA) is allotted from federal coffers, yours and my tax money. The MRA is a prescribed sum budgeted between 1.2 and 1.4 million per House member (in round figures). The actual amount offered a House member depends on the Congressional District’s distance from Washington, D.C. and the local cost of office space rental. The MRA is to defray the cost of the House member’s “representational duties.” These duties are made up of a personal expenses component; an office expenses component; and a mailing expenses component.
In 2017 McMorris Rodgers’ spent $1,273,844.71 of her MRA. Her actual expenditures are close to the average allowed. As you can see from the tables below, the biggest share of the money, $1,013,209, was paid as staff salaries. Look at the last two tables below, covering the last quarter of 2017. [To figure the annual salary multiply by four (the presented numbers are last quarter of 2017 only)].
Each House Member is allowed to employ up to eighteen full time staffers. I count sixteen staffers with annualized salaries over $30,000, including four with annual salaries between $95,000 and $120,000. (For reference, $30,000 is $15/hour annualized. $11/hour was the minimum wage in WA in 2017, $7.25 in ID.) There are also five “shared employees” on McMorris Rodgers’ roster. I recognize four or five names as employees primarily located in Eastern Washington, and several that are mostly in Washington D.C. (I believe office space in D.C. is not paid for out of the Members Representational Allowance.)
A few observations:
- $1.3 million annually is quite a large amount of money. Much of it (1/2?) is likely devoted to “constituent services,” i.e. helping Eastern WA people and businesses deal with issues they have with Social Security, the Veterans Administration, and other government programs and services. This is help McMorris Rodgers gets credit for, but it is help every Representative is expected to provide. It’s part of the job.
- Most of the staff in Eastern WA seems devoted to interfacing with constituents, not discussing legislation. In fact, my experience has been the local staffers are usually less informed regarding legislation than I am. In McMorris Rodgers’ case, policy research and guidance seems to come mostly from the Washington Policy Center locally and the Republican Party apparatus nationally.
- Whoever holds this office uses the money to help advance like-minded individuals by offering internships and work opportunities. During McMorris Rodgers years in office she has fostered the careers of several. Toppling an incumbent House member changes the political landscape of the District more broadly than one might appreciate.
None of this $1.3 million is supposed to be spent on political campaigns, including campaigns to acquire leadership positions in the Congress itself. The Members Representational Allowance (MRA) is meant for just what it says, the Member’s duties as a Representative of the District. By law a Representative is not supposed to benefit personally from the Members Representational Allowance, although a Representative may use personal funds to supplement Representational expenses if the expenses exceed the allowance.
Part of the duty of Member of the U.S. House of Representatives includes managing this $1.3 million “representational” budget of taxpayer money for the benefit of the Member’s constituents
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. The basic information presented here comes from a series of fascinating articles from Thoughtco.com, in particular an article available here. I highly recommend further reading if you have time.
P.P.S. The details for 2017:
2017 McMorris Rodgers Staff Costs:
These numbers are just for the last quarter of 2017, so for annual salaries multiply by four. This is publicly available information, the same pdf referenced above, pages 1369 and 1370. Use COMMAND (CMD) + to magnify the table if it is hard to read.