*The crummiest job in Washington—congressman—is getting worse*

[Toyin Falola]

*The crummiest job in Washington—congressman—is getting worse*

*Longer hours, lower pay, more threats and less power*

The Economist

Illustration: Olivier Heiligiers

Feb 16th 2026

Washington, DC

“I just felt ground down,” sighs Don Bacon, a Republican congressman from Nebraska. “I’m tired of doing elections every two years. I’m tired of raising six to seven million every two years…It’s a 12- to 14-hour daily grind.” Mr Bacon is one of 60 members of Congress who say they will step down after the midterms, a record number so early in an election year.

Some are old; some genuinely want to spend more time with their families. Many, however, have grown frustrated with a job that involves longer hours, lower pay, more danger and less power than in the past.

Chart: The Economist

A typical week for a lawmaker starts with a red-eye flight to Washington, just in time for a vote on a bill you have not had time to read. Party leaders whip you to back or oppose it. Between 15 and 25 hours a week are spent with a minder in a dingy building phoning donors to fund your re-election campaign. Then you must attend several committee hearings, all scheduled at the same time; so you appear before each just long enough to craft a video clip. On Thursday after your final vote you dash to make your flight home for your weekend duties: a series of ribbon-cuttings and listening to constituents whinge.

This grind might be easier to tolerate if it yielded results. But in its most recent full term, from 2023 to 2025, Congress passed just 274 laws, fewer than in any other Congress since the civil war (see chart 1). Many were trivial, from renaming post offices to mandating that American flags be American-made. More substantial bills are gridlocked. Small wonder that, according to Gallup, just 17% of Americans approve of how Congress is doing its job.

Chart: The Economist

Despite their dwindling relevance, lawmakers are not safe. Last year the Capitol police investigated 14,938 threats directed at members of Congress, their families and staff—a 58% rise from 2024 (see chart 2). In 2022 the then speaker’s husband was bludgeoned with a hammer. On January 6th 2021 a mob ransacked the Capitol while lawmakers cowered under desks. The rioters were later pardoned by the president.

Lawmakers are better-paid than nurses, but the gap is shrinking. The salary of $174,000 has not changed in 17 years. After inflation, it has slid by a third (see chart 3). Dozens camp in their offices to save rent.

How did it become such a crummy job? One reason is that partisanship has stripped lawmakers of much of their agency. Another is that they have divested themselves of the resources needed to do the job properly.

Chart: The Economist

Begin with partisanship. The parties in Congress are more ideologically distant than at any point in the past 80 years. Data from DW-NOMINATE, a computer program that analyses voting records, shows that today there is no overlap between Republican and Democratic lawmakers (see chart 4). Anyone who bucks the party line risks ejection by their own party in a primary. “I think it’s the worst it’s probably ever been,” says Julia Brownley, a congresswoman from California who is stepping down this year.

No way to earn a living

In the past, lawmakers might get onto an interesting committee, where members on both sides haggled over new laws. But since the mid-1990s power has been hoarded in the offices of the speaker of the House and the Senate leader. To get around partisan gridlock, congressional leaders try to cram all their priorities into a single “omnibus” budget bill, which is negotiated in secret and passed, largely unread, by their rank and file. “[Committee] power has been pulled away,” complains a recently retired Democratic congressman. “And you say to yourself, what am I doing here if I can’t make my own decisions?”

Chart: The Economist

Hearings have become marbled sets for brand-building. For the ambitious, “it’s all about getting that viral moment,” says the ex-congressman. “Members want to land their attack, and then package it up into a 30-second viral [clip] for social media.”

As the scope of government has expanded, the machinery of Congress has failed to keep up. The House has fewer committee staff than in the 1980s (see chart 5). A typical lawmaker’s office on Capitol Hill employs just three or four haggard 20-somethings to work on policy. If they are good, they often quit to earn more in the private sector. Congressional staffers left in near-record numbers last year, according to LegiStorm, a congressional database. Many congressmen, too pressed to think for themselves, end up relying on lobbyists. “Congress no longer has [the] expertise to do its job,” warns Michael Thorning of the Bipartisan Policy Centre, a think-tank.

Andrew Hall of Stanford University warns that the toxic environment deters moderates from running for office. In their place, partisans who enjoy politics as a blood sport have filled the ranks.

Chart: The Economist

Things could improve. Historically, when enough lawmakers found Congress to be a miserable place to work, they supported reforms that made serving more meaningful. That was the case in the 1970s after Watergate. There are plenty of ways Congress could be made less crummy. Committees could be more empowered; campaign-finance reform might cut the hours spent dialling for dollars; members and staff could be paid a bit more. Yet all this would require the two sides to agree to act. For now, that seems unlikely. ■

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