LegiStorm

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has run through five chiefs of staff in a year and a half.

Krister Holladay is the congresswoman's latest chief departure after joining her office in July. Her office has not yet hired a replacement.

Granger began to fly through chiefs in June 2019, when then-chief Spencer Freebairn departed for Raytheon. The congresswoman then hired Steve Moffitt and Catherine Knowles, who lasted about two months and one month, repectively. Penultimate chief Jordon Sims served in the role for four months before returning to Imperium Global Advisors, a government-relations firm he previously helped to found.

Granger currently has the highest staff turnover rate in Congress, according to a LegiStorm analysis.

If you're an attorney, there's never been a better time to work for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Aides with JDs are now the best-paid congressional staffers in the House's personal offices, overtaking PhD holders as the chamber's most valuable degree. According to LegiStorm data, the average House staffer with a law degree will make $81,000 this year, compared to $72,000 for a PhD. A bachelor's degree will nab the average House staffer about $54,000 this year, while a master's degree is worth $62,000.

JDs have gained value in the House for six consecutive years - the only degree type to do so. 

PhDs still rule in the Senate, where bigger budgets and staff sizes mean that member offices can shell out money for more specialized areas of expertise. There, a PhD will bring in $102,000 this year, compared to $97,000 for a JD.

One of Rep. Warren Davidson's (R-Ohio) first congressional hires has left the Hill for a Koch brothers' lobbying group.

Matthew Silver is now a senior federal legislative liaison at Americans for Prosperity. The influential right-wing advocacy group serves as the primary lobbying outfit to funders David and Charles Koch.

Silver had served as Davidson's legislative director since the congressman took office in 2016 and previously worked for ex-Rep. John Fleming (R-La.).

Six representatives are on track to overspend their official budgets by the year's end, according to LegiStorm data.

Freshman Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas) has so far spent the most, using 84.9 percent of his annual allowances by the end of Q3. More than 28 percent of Wright's total budget has gone toward printing and franking - a common strategy to reach constituents. The average representative spent just four percent of her or his budget on mass mailings in the same time period.

Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) is the next highest spender, with 78.8 percent of his budget used in nine months. Hagedorn has faced major scrutiny for his office's ethically questionable expenditures in the first half of the year, when the office paid out tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a printing company owned at least in part by one of his staffers. In Q3, his office disclosed no further payments to that company.

Hagedorn's office has since cut back on its rate of spending but at this point has still spent far more than the average representative, who's used only 62.7 percent of her or his budget.

Reps. Ross Spano (R-Fla.), Steve Watkins (R-Kan.), Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) also spent more than three-fourths of their respective budgets.

Spano's and Watkins' high expenses were mainly due to constituent mass mailings. Both congressmen lost their reelection bids this year.

Jeffries, whose district is located in New York City, spent much more than average on office rent costs. Although Slotkin (D-Mich.) spent higher-than-average total amounts but did not have disproportionately overspend on any one category.

In the event that a member overspends, he or she is personally responsible for re-paying that money. Any unspent office funds, meanwhile, are returned to the U.S. Treasury.

Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) has so far disclosed the least expenses, with only 44.15 percent of his budget spent. However, congressional offices usually report some expenses after the year is over, with Baird reporting more than 21 percent of his 2019 expenses in 2020.

As President Trump considers preemptive pardons for his inner circle, one ally has disclosed that he's spent the last few months seeking clemency for a man serving the country's longest white-collar prison sentence.

Brett Tolman is working on behalf of Sholam Weiss, who is less than two decades into his 835 year prison sentence. Tolman, a former U.S. Attorney for Utah, last month made headlines for providing the Trump campaign with research to support its claims of election fraud.

According to Tolman's recent disclosure, which his firm filed months late, his work for Weiss began in May.

Weiss was convicted of money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud in 2000. He is serving time in the Otisville, N.Y. federal prison where former Trump attorney Michael Cohen spent two years for tax evasion.