LegiStorm

The Department of the Interior churns out good congressional staffers — at least, that's what Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) is betting on.

So far, two of his hires come from the department. Amanda Hall is now Valadao's legislative director and was an Interior senior adviser. Faith Vander Voort is the congressman's communications director and was deputy director of DOI's Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs. 

Valadao, whose failed 2018 reelection bid kept him out of Congress last term, isn't the only member of the freshman class to hire from the department. Ben Goldey was Interior press secretary before accepting a job as communications director to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

An Environmental Protection Agency staffer has moved back to the House ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's anticipated "transformational" nomination to head the agency.

John Mark Kolb is now legislative director to freshman Rep. María Salazar (R-Fla.). He's previously worked for ex-Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and comes from the EPA, where he was deputy director of congressional affairs.

Biden is expected to select Michael Regan, currently North Carolina's top-ranking environmental regulator, as EPA administrator to replace Andrew Wheeler, a former fossil-fuel lobbyist.

Most U.S. senators eventually will have federal lobbyists in their family, LegiStorm data suggests. The proportion of representatives who will have family lobbying ties is nearly as high.

In the 117th Congress, only seven percent of representatives and 19 percent of senators have family lobbying ties - so far. As they spend more time in D.C., many current members will go on to marry into lobbying families or have children who later join K Street firms.

Some eight percent of representatives and 21 percent of senators who served in the 116th Congress have family lobbying ties. That number continues to increase the longer it's been since a member first came to Washington. Of members in Congress 20 years ago, 40 percent of representatives and 51 percent of senators now have family members who are current or former lobbyists.

Those figures don't even include a third of all members of Congress who will go on to become lobbyists themselves. Six current representatives - Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Greg Steube (R-Fla.), David Rouzer (R-N.C.) - and two senators - John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) - registered as lobbyists before coming to Congress. 

As many administration aides fret about finding new work, one White House staffer has returned to a Trump-aligned senator with an uncertain future.

Sean Riley is back with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), now as chief of staff. He previously worked as Johnson's chief counsel and legislative director, leaving a year ago to work as a special assistant to the president at the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

After staking much of his political future on Donald Trump, Johnson is reportedly weighing the decision to run for a third Senate term next cycle. Johnson did not follow through with Electoral College vote challenges after previously vowing to object to them.

Since yesterday's Capitol insurrection, Republican staff have been relatively quiet compared to their Democratic peers but for the first time in Donald Trump's presidency, GOP staff are publicly sharing doubts and even outright alarm at the president.

Here are some notable tweets from Republican staffers:

Today's mob and the president shamed every American who has died defending this country by defacing the very building that is the seat of our government. It's the saddest and most pathetic actions I've ever seen from my fellow Americans in my lifetime.

- Dylan Frost (@HeavyD501), legislative director to Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), Jan. 6, 2020  

Invoke the 25th amendment immediately

- Nathaniel Beach (@NathanielBeach), caseworker to Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), Jan. 6, 2020  

Far more Republican staffers seized onto the words of others, retweeting messages critical of the president and his handling of the insurrection.

John Maniscalco, counsel to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), retweeted former Rep. Justin Amash's (Libertarian-N.Y.) call for President Trump to "resign or be removed from office." Many others retweeted a quote from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), "What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States."

Others still reached across the aisle. Julia Convertini, a legislative assistant to Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.), retweeted without comentary a Fox News' correspondent's quote of Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: "What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer."