If a definition of “congress” is “the act of coming together,” critics might call this House and Senate the Uncongress: unproductive, uncivil, uninspiring, unpleasant. Unbelievable.
Call it what you will, we count on top Capitol Hill staffers to call things the way they see them. Every election year, we survey hundreds of aides, press secretaries, legislative directors, and chiefs of committee staffs for their take on the best and worst of Congress. This year they had plenty to chew on. At times, they proved as partisan as their bosses. But where it counts—for example, who’s hot and who’s not—bipartisanship tended to prevail.
This year we also asked whom they’d like to see in the White House in 2017. As usual, their answers were revealing.
1. Tie: Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
2. Tie: Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Voting along straight party lines, Republican aides praised Oklahoma’s “Dr. No” and the Senate GOP leader, while Democratic aides honored their party’s second- and third-ranking senators.
1. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
2. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
3. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
The ever media-needy Schumer and Tea Party leader DeMint were bipartisan picks, but the bulk of Paul’s votes came from GOP staffers.
1. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
2. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
What each party gives . . .
1. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
2. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
. . . the other takes away.
1. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
2. Tie: Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Thune (R-S.D.)
3. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Rubio got votes from both parties. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) was the Democratic runner-up.
1. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
2. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.)
3. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
In more party-line voting, two people discussed as potential GOP vice-presidential picks outpolled Hillary Clinton’s successor.
1. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)2. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
Their talk is music to their own parties’ ears.
1. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
2. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
3. Tie: Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Republicans ganged up on the majority leader and the ex-“Saturday Night Live” star, while Dems spread their votes around the other party.
1. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
2. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
3. Tie: Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Mikulski is a perennial bipartisan winner; all of McCain’s votes came from the GOP.
1. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
The cordial Georgian got more votes than half a dozen runners-up.
1. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
2. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
Ex-comic Franken tickles aides in both parties.
1. John Thune (R-S.D.)
2. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
3. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
Thune and Brown have bipartisan appeal . . .
1. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.)
2. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
. . . as do Ayotte and Gillibrand.
1. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.)
2. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
The former New Hampshire attorney general and the ex-TV personality are seen as serious and hardworking.
1. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
2. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
Paul’s votes came from his own party, Rubio’s from both.
1. John Thune (R-S.D.)
2. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
How do you think they stay so hot?
1. Tie: Richard Burr (R-N.C.), David Vitter (R-La.)
2. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Party can mean different things: Burr is known for holding lots of fundraising parties, Vitter for the “DC madam” scandal, and Paul as the “Tea Party animal”—or do his votes stem from stories of bong hits at Baylor?
1. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
2. Tie: Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)
Straight party-line votes.
1. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
A surprisingly bipartisan vote. On strict party lines, runners-up were Democrats Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, and Harry Reid as well as Republicans Scott Brown and James Inhofe.
1. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
2. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
3. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Democrats focused on the GOP leader; Republicans split their votes.
1. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
2. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)
3. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
The moderates all got votes from both parties.
1. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
2. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Runners-up were California Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Republicans Bob Corker (Tenn.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), and Olympia Snowe (Maine).
1. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
2. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
Sanders is a three-time winner, Mikulski more.
1. David Vitter (R-La.)
2. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
The Louisianan has already been in hot water; Rubio’s previous financial problems apparently raise concerns.
1. Tie: Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Thune (R-S.D.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
An Eagle Scout, an ex-OMB chief, Thune, and Mikulski.
1. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
2. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
3 John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Voting the party lines.
1. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.)
2. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
3. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
The Texas Democrat got mostly Republican votes—as did (surprise!) the Oversight Committee chair and the majority leader.
1. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)
2. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
3. Diane Black (R-Tenn.)
Rodgers, vice chair of the House Republican Conference, has been mentioned as a VP pick.
1. David Dreier (R-Calif.)
2. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)
3. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Dreier and Hoyer impress staffers in both parties.
1. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.)
2. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)
Votes here were mostly partisan, but there were crossovers, too.
1. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.)
2. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)
Lee got another bipartisan nod, but Sherman’s votes came from his side of the aisle.
1. Lois Capps (D-Calif.)
Lots of members were named, but repeat winner Capps came out on top. Kentucky’s Brett Guthrie got the most GOP votes.
1. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
The retiring Massachusetts wit won in a bipartisan landslide.
1. Tie: John Boehner (R-Ohio), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
Don’t Democrats have any fun?
1. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)
2. Tie: James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cedric Richmond (D-La.)
Conservative Gowdy polled the most votes, but all three freshmen have impressed their bases.
1. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
2. Tie: Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.)
Pelosi’s votes were all GOP, Duffy’s mixed. Majority whip McCarthy and freshman-class president Scott were dissed by their own, Quayle by the opposition.
1. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.)
2. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)
3. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.)
Schock is a repeat winner. Former Air Force pilot Kinzinger and “Real World” star Duffy are newcomers. Dems with the most votes: Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Steny Hoyer (Md.), Cedric Richmond (La.).
1. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.)
No one else came close to the comely rancher and former South Dakota Snow Queen.
1. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.)
2. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
3. Tie: Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
And working out certainly appears to pay off.
1. John Dingell (D-Mich.)
2. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)
3. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
Dingell and Hoyer got votes from both parties. The Republican with the most votes was California’s David Dreier.
1. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)
2. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)
3. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
Johnson and Foxx got tagged by the opposition, Bachmann by both parties.
1. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
2. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
3. Tie: Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)
All prolific, 140 characters at a time.
1. Former representative Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)
Clear winner, pants down.
1. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
2. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
3. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
The votes were purely partisan, too, of course.
1. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio)
2. Tie: Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah)
So partisan is Congress that moderates LaTourette and Boren aren’t running again. Matheson’s district is the most Republican one represented by a Democrat.
1. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
2. Tie: Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.)
DeLauro and Lee are repeat winners. Apparently not everyone adores Wilson’s trademark hats.
1. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)
2. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.)
3. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.)
Once under investigation, always under a cloud?
1. Lois Capps (D-Calif.)
2. Tie: Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), Greg Walden (R-Ore.)
All straight arrows—but not necessarily dull.
1. David Dreier (R-Calif.)
2. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
3. Rob Bishop (R-Utah)
Both Californians have won for years. In partisan voting, the Utahan was also a runner-up for Fashion Victim.
1. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
2. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
Ryan was Hill staffers' top pick weeks before he was Mitt Romney's.
1. Paul Ryan
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Mitt Romney
Do Ryan fans discount the possibility of a second—or first—Romney term?