As reported by Mr. Lima of The Washington Post, in ‘The Technology 202’ news letter, dated Aug. 18, 2021
A recent hike in the salary cap of U.S. House of Representatives staffers (the people doing the actual grunt work of drafting legislation, negotiating with the lobbies and much more) provides a glimpse of the inner workings of U.S. Congress
The new cap – at $199 300 – is hailed as a win for House leaders under the premise that the raise will stem the fast turn-over of staffers, which stalls much regulatory work
A problem across the board, this is a critical issue in technology – a focus of Congressional regulatory policies and the nexus of great lobbying efforts
Deep-pocketed tech firms recruiting staffers at up to three times their current salaries appear to be a fact of life … ‘it happens all the time’ according to Mr. Travis Moore, of TechCongress, quoted by Wapo
And the recruits end up “actively lobbying against efforts they had worked on and supported as congressional staffers, including on tech policy”