Washington, D.C. – October 4th, 2009

Congress will consider 5,500 bills this year. If they were all as long as the recent House health care bill, that would amount to some 5.5 million pages of law. Who has the time and energy to sit down and write all that? More importantly, who are the people who are actually writing our laws? The answer; usually a 20 something Legislative Assistant.

Legislative assistants are the backbone of Congress. Some long-term LA’s have been around for longer than their bosses. You can count on them to remember bills filed on a topic months or years earlier, and you can count on them to keep abreast of the industry news in their field, that’s their job.

I spoke to Alvin Banks, a staffer from Henry Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee, to get the nitty-gritty details.

How do you crank out a thousand-page bill?

Usually, Waxman will outline his main points and give them to the team. The team is divided into different issues – one focused on Medicare, another on Medicaid, another on the public option, and so on and so forth. Once given their respective issues, they will do the research they need to turn ideas into law. But nothing gets drafted without legal counsel.

Once fleshed out, each team goes over their proposal with Waxman to identify key ideas for presentation to Congress. Waxman really takes into consideration the ‘vote-ability‘ of each point before submitting it. He tries to put forth legislation that has a good chance of getting passed through. I know recently he was passionate about a certain piece of legislation, but had to remove it from his agenda because voters from his district didn’t support it. He was disappointed, but that’s good politics.

What is your work environment like?

I love working here. The staff has worked together for twenty-some-odd years (not in this committee, but through various other connections) and it feels like a family.

How’d you get to where you are now?

Everyone gets here through different routes – there is no set path to take. I started out in a health care fellowship. I kind of followed my interest in health through all of my later positions. About a year ago, Waxman offered me an internship with the health care staff committee – now I’m a Special Assistant. However, if you actually want to draft legislation you need an MPS (Master’s in Political Science), an MPH (Master’s in Public Health), or a law degree.

Would campaign experience give me a leg up into this field?

Working on any campaign – no matter the winning or losing side – can open a lot of doors for you in terms of networking. But my personal opinion is that these doors can definitely be opened by other platforms. I don’t have campaign experience and I don’t feel that those around me (who I might add are working at the same level as I am) have leverage over me if they do. At Howard, I built a lot of connections that are comparable to those one might build while working on a campaign.

Can you make a career out of being a legislative staffer?

Not really, the position is tied to the Member and if they go, so do you. Some staffers manage to get jobs with other legislators. It’s a great career stepping-stone, while it’s not cut out for everybody, it lets you make a real impact.

What is your best advice to aspiring legislative staffers out there?

Come to Washington! Go to a graduate school in D.C., you can’t really go wrong with a political graduate program in this area. I went to Howard, but in my office a lot of people recommend The Graduate School of Political Management. If you’re looking to go into health-related policy Johns Hopkins has a great program.

Image Credits: PresidenToor and Grundlepuck