LegiStorm

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who cited the federal government's "reckless spending" as a justification for bringing a motion to vacate against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), led the House in 2023 office spending - thanks, in part, to new reimbursement rules that allowed the congressman to receive more than $40,000 for housing and meals.

Gaetz received $31,000 in reimbursement for lodging and $10,800 for meals in 2023. Per new House rules, members may seek reimbursement for certain housing, meals and other expenses incurred in D.C. while Congress is in session. Reimbursement is paid out of an office's Members' Representational Allowance, the annual budgets that go to paying for staff compensation and other costs of running congressional offices.

Gaetz received another $1,900 in reimbursement for car rentals, parking and taxis/ride shares, bringing his total 2023 reimbursement to nearly $43,800.

Gaetz's office disclosed using 99% of its 2023 MRA. The average personal office disclosed spending 86% during that time. In 2022, Gaetz's office used 90% of its annual budget.

Staff compensation made up the largest proportion of the office's 2023 expenses and cost the office 83% of its total annual budget. The average personal office spent 79% of its budget on paying staff last year.

Women make up a growing proportion of registered lobbyists — but they're still ringing in Women's History Month as a K Street minority.

According to LegiStorm data, women made up about 39% percent of last year's registered federal lobbyists and foreign agents. That percentage has trended upward since at least 2000 (the first year that reliable lobbying data is available), when women made up about 33% of all lobbyists.

The total number of female lobbyists has also grown over the years, from about 4,000 in 2000 to over 5,000 last year.

Last fall's House speaker crisis has not caused a significant increase in members to announce their departures compared to the previous election cycle, according to LegiStorm data.

So far, 48 representatives have voluntarily left the 118th Congress or announced that they are not running for reelection to the House. Of those, five members (10% of those 48) resigned before the term's end. Another 17 (35%) are running for Senate or another office, and the remaining 26 are retiring (54%).

Those numbers are similar to this point in the 117th Congress: By Feb. 26, 2022, 47 representatives had resigned or announced their plans to leave. Eight members (17%) had resigned from the 117th Congress at that time. 14 more (30%) had announced their plans to run for other office, and 25 (53%) had announced retirement plans. Another 14 representatives announced their plans to leave Congress after Feb. 26.

Former Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) is the latest ex-member to make his first pass through the revolving door.

Pittenger is lobbying on behalf of quantum-computing firm Quantinuum, per a recent filing. His work began at the beginning of the month and focuses on unspecified "quantum computing" issues.

Pittenger, who served in the House from 2013-2019, is well past the one-year "cooling-off" period required of former members from the time they leave Congress before they are permitted to lobby the House or Senate. Although the rule does not extend to lobbying the executive branch, members-turned-lobbyists frequently begin their lobbying work about a year after leaving office.

A former House staffer and trade expert is now quenching her thirst with Coca-Cola.

Katie Morley is now director for federal and diplomatic relations at the Coca-Cola Co. Last year, the beverage giant spent nearly $4 million to lobby the federal government on a host of issues ranging from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to plastics recycling, to trade with China.

Morley was most recently Rep. Adrian Smith's (R-Neb.) senior legislative assistant and top trade adviser. Smith chairs the Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee and sits on the Joint Committee on Taxation.