Dem
47
GOP
53
Short answer: It's not pretty. People hate Congress. Probably the only institution even more corrupt and less popular is the Supreme Court. But what is life actually like in Congress? Politico sent reporters up to the Hill and interviewed 25 Congresscritters. They were allowed to be anonymous if they so chose, but most were willing to go on the record. The results are shocking. Here are a few of the comments in the article.
Rep. Jim Hines (D-CT): "Everybody thinks that we fly around on Air Force One and dine at the French embassy every night. But the reality is, I'm eating burritos and McDonald's more often than I'm dining in any embassies. It's also a lonely life. It's really hard to establish friendships, just because the pace is so breakneck."
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC): "If people knew the truth about the compensation of a congressman [$174,000], they would be shocked. I have people who land in the airport here and call me and ask, can I send my car for them. I mean, my first term up here I didn't even own a car."
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO): "When things are going bad or when things get ugly, I'll try to find me a thrift store. I'll hit a thrift store in a heartbeat, walk around in the midst of all the things in those places. It's soothing and quite comfortable."
Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK): "It [Congress] is a sick puppy. And a bunch of this goes back to the way that the campaign finance laws have worked."
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX): "I think the redistricting process is what has Congress so broken. When you have red states that draw districts 70 percent red and blue states that draw them 70 percent blue, you create a legislative body that has no incentive to work together."
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL): "[The solution is] decentralizing power and allowing the committee process to work. We've seen a power shift over the last 20 years or so, from individual members to it really being concentrated at the top. Instead of having 100 good, equal senators, you kind of had two super senators and 98 baby senators."
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ): "We're human beings, right? We're all sinners, so to even put on the facade that we're not regular people that are tempted and do stupid things is laughable. It's ridiculous. So, don't act like your sh** doesn't stink."
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY): "I'm one of the few gay members. I do not inquire about the sex lives of my colleagues in general, especially my heterosexual colleagues. I can assure you though, as a gay man, I'm certainly not cheating on my wife."
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL): "If you are prone to substance abuse, everything about this job probably makes it worse."
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA): "Well, I've seen one Republican who, unfortunately for you, has to go unnamed, show up drunk a number of times. There were one or two Dems I thought might be high on something but not drunk."
Rep. Jim Hines (D-CT) (again): "There's no question that somewhere between six and a dozen of my colleagues are at a point where they're ... I think they don't have the faculties to do their job."
A House Republican: "I have a difficult time sometimes telling between the deterioration of members and a handful who are just not very smart."
In short, many members enjoy their work but recognize that Congress is completely paralyzed by the current system and can't get anything done. In part it is due to gerrymandering, which means members are not afraid of the general election, only of being primaried from their fringe, which makes them unwilling to work with the other party. Also, bills to create multimember districts with ranked-choice voting have gotten nowhere. (V)