In their own words: What it's like in a 'chaos' Congress and why these
lawmakers keep coming back
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[October 28, 2024]
By LISA MASCARO and MIKE PESOLI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Polarizing. Challenging. A lot of wasted time.
That’s how six lawmakers described what it is like being in the U.S.
House — a particularly tumultuous period in American history that has
brought governing to a standstill, placed their lives in danger and
raised fundamental questions about what it means to be a representative
in a divided democracy.
And yet, they keep at it, running for reelection.
The Associated Press sat down separately with lawmakers, three
Republicans and three Democrats, to hear what it’s like on Capitol Hill
and what they — and Americans — can do to make it better. All hail from
safe districts and are expected to easily win another term.
Here’s who they are, why they first ran for office and why they keep
coming back.
Republicans
Dusty Johnson is the rare lawmaker whose sprawling district makes up an
entire state, South Dakota. He ran for office in 2018 because he thought
there were “too many jerks” in Congress and he would be better.
Nicole Malliotakis said that as the daughter of a Cuban mother and Greek
father, her background made her born for politics. She ran in 2020 to
provide a “counter view” as a Republican from New York City,
representing Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Mark Amodei from northern Nevada, or “original Nevada,” as he calls it,
has been in office since 2011. He said it’s his responsibility to do
public service and give back to the state where his family has lived for
generations.
Democrats
Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, comes from the western
Philadelphia region known as “the mushroom capital of the world.” The
daughter of a Holocaust survivor and mother of a queer daughter, she
decided to run for office in 2018 after seeing them in tears after
Donald Trump’s 2016 election.
Veronica Escobar, from the border city of El Paso, Texas, ran for office
to work for her community but also to tell the “El Paso story” and
counter some of the “negative narratives” about immigrants. She won
election in 2018.
Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress, said his initial
response to running for office was “Hell, no!” But he came to realize
his work as the national organizer at March for Our Lives after the
school shooting in Parkland, Florida, could carry over into Congress. He
first won office in 2022.
So how’s it going?
“Chaos is honestly the word I would use to describe the totality of the
Congress," Frost said. "A lot of wasted time.”
“You have your ups and downs,” said Malliotakis.
Almost all of them have been in office during two presidential
impeachments, two historic House speaker fights, the COVID closures and
the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
“All of the things that you could not expect have happened have, have
happened,” Houlahan said. This year in particular has been frustrating
“and in some cases super demoralizing because, you know, you’re not here
to not do things.”
Amodei said, “I think it’s an asset if you know how to play well with
others. And if you don’t play well with others, then this is a nasty
place to be.”
Escobar, who was among the lawmakers trapped in the House gallery on
Jan. 6, 2021, said: “I will tell you, I love my job. I’m grateful for my
job. It’s a tough job.”
What can Congress do differently?
“I struggle with that a lot,” said Houlahan.
Houlahan said the House’s 435 members operate like “independent
contractors,” with small staffs and each office’s own personality. After
a career in the military, as a small business entrepreneur and as a high
school chemistry teacher, she said, “I’ve never seen anything like the
organizational structure that is here.”
“Some of those offices, their mission is chaos, you know, and some of
those offices, their mission is constructive,” Houlahan said.
Johnson said it’s the wrong question to be asking.
“It’s garbage in, garbage out,” he said.
“And if the people of America are going to continue to elect people who
use fear and anger to motivate, we’re going to continue to find it more
difficult than it should be to get things done in Congress,” he said.
Frost thinks unless there are institutional reforms — campaign finance
changes and ending the Senate’s filibuster — “we’re going to be caught
in this generational cycle of taking a few steps forward and a few steps
backwards.”
Malliotakis expects it’s going to be this way for a while.
“The far right does its thing, the far left does its thing, and then
everyone else in the middle really comes together to actually govern,”
she said.
And what can Americans do to fix Congress?
“Congress is a reflection of what’s happening in America,” Escobar said.
“We have families that can no longer talk to one another about politics
or about government,” she said. “We are drifting so far away from what
is so good about our country and our communities, and Congress has a
role in fixing that. ... But we in our country have to do more of that,
as well.”
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Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, is pictured in the spin room after a
presidential debate, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt
Rourke, File)
Malliotakis said it would help if Americans paid more attention to
what their representatives were “actually doing when they’re in
Washington.”
“So many people complain about issues and then they vote for the
same members over and over,” she said.
Johnson suggests Americans list characteristics they would seek in a
spouse, a boss, a pastor or child and use them when electing a
representative.
“Congress can’t fix Congress,” he said. “The American people can fix
Congress.”
Do you worry for your safety?
“We’ve all gotten death threats,” Malliotakis said. “Obviously, it
is a polarizing time right now.”
Escobar said she has stopped holding large town hall gatherings over
concerns of gun violence.
“I worry that any time I’m gathered with my constituents that one of
my constituents could get hurt,” she said. “And I worry that my
presence at a large gathering could put somebody else’s safety at
risk.”
Houlahan said the risks of violence come with the job.
“This is a job where we are in danger,” she said. “It’s awful that
we’re in that place, and we as leaders should be decrying that and
not encouraging that.”
She said, “But it is absolutely my expectation that this is not a
safe job.”
Frost said the threats he receives as a member of Congress are not
new to him. “And I think it just shows, of course, the tone and this
kind of violent culture that exists within American politics.”
What are the best parts of your job?
All said getting stuff done — even small wins. Especially the small
wins, in fact, because that’s about all Congress can accomplish
these days.
“There’s no other feeling like it,” said Frost.
He described standing at the White House for the launch of the
first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention. And the “joy” he felt
when receiving word that the administration would approve a second
passport office in Florida, something constituents had been
demanding since before he came to Congress.
Amodei mentioned work he’s done toward a monument for Vietnam War
helicopter pilots at Arlington National Cemetery. “That’s neat.”
“The best days are days when you actually feel like you took a vote
of consequence,” Johnson said, whether it’s certifying the results
of the 2020 presidential election or “making sure that we don’t have
any of these silly, stupid dumpster fires.”
“My role as a legislator is to find a solution,” Escobar said. “It
may not be the perfect solution.... I have constituents who get mad
at me for saying that, but progress is incremental.”
And the worst?
“I commute about 5,000 miles a week,” Amodei said.
But what’s “worse is when you feel like you’re here and your time is
being taken for granted,” he said.
Why do you keep coming back?
“I keep coming back because it’s work that matters,” Johnson said.
“I do love what I do,” Malliotakis said, adding she wants to do
"great work for our constituents.”
Houlahan said she envisions a future where Congress turns a corner.
“I stay because I’m hoping that we will find ourselves again," she
said. "And I hope that I can be part of it.”
Frost said, “If we step away from our civic power, our opposition is
more than happy to step into it for us.”
“The way this institution works should reflect the wants and needs
of the people. And so ... that’s why we've got to keep coming back.”
Does Congress matter?
“Anybody who would act like Congress doesn’t matter, I think, is
naive to the point of being a bad citizen,” Johnson said. “The
reality is that every single one, we cast votes that bend the
trajectory of this country.”
Amodei said, “Well, fair question, but it’s like, well, do you think
Social Security is important if you’re over 65? Do you think
Medicare is important?... Do you think that our borders are
important?”
He said he gets the “uber-cynics” who say, “You people are such
dysfunctional jerks that we should just get rid of all of you. It’s
like, okay, so tell me what your plan is.”
“Everything we do here in Washington, D.C., in Congress, impacts
every single citizen in this great country,” Escobar said.
___
Mascaro is the AP congressional correspondent. Pesoli is an AP
videojournalist.
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