LegiStorm

An Obama appointee-turned-JUUL lobbyist has found his way to the Ways and Means Committee.

Jim Esquea is new to committee Democrats as a senior adviser working on worker and family-support issues. He was most recently vice president of public affairs at Scotts Miracle-Gro and is a former lobbyist for JUUL Labs, maker of the JUUL e-cigarette.

Esquea spent six years as Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary for legislation during the Obama administration. He's also an alumnus of the Senate Budget Committee and Bill Clinton's Office of Management and Budget.

House Democrats are spending this month in relative hiding from constituents.

Democratic representatives have so far scheduled only 41 town halls during the August recess, according to LegiStorm data. House Republicans have scheduled 83 - more than double that of Democrats.

All but five of Democrats' town halls and all but four of Republicans' will be held in person.

During last year's August recess, House Democrats held 104 town halls. House Republicans held 100.

Reps. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) hold this recess's record for the most town halls. Mann held 16 events in early August; Brecheen will hold 16 this week. 

After 10 years on the Hill, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' (R-Wash.) legislative director is betting the farm on her new job.

Liz Payne started this month with Bunge Ltd. as government-affairs director. The agribusiness and food-industry company, which focuses on plant-based products, runs a small in-house lobbying team.

Payne is an alumnus of former Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) and then-Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), in addition to her work for McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Claudia Tenney's (R-N.Y.) chief of staff has traded the Hill for foreign-affairs advocacy.

Nick Stewart is now senior director of government relations at FDD Action, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies's lobbying affiliate. FDD is an officially nonpartisan think tank that advocates for a neoconservative approach to foreign policy and national security. FDD Action's federal lobbying work focuses on defense, foreign policy and banking issues.

Stewart was Tenney's chief of staff until 2017, when he left for the State Department. He rejoined Tenney's office in early 2021, when Tenney rejoined Congress after losing her 2018 reelection bid. Tenney is a part of the House Democracy Partnership commission and sits on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Science Committee.

Compared to Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans employ fewer staffers with advanced degrees -- but pay them thousands a year more.

According to a LegiStorm analysis of Senate staffer pay from October 2022 through March 2023, the median Republican personal-office staffer with a doctoral degree made 14% more than her or his Democratic counterpart - a difference of $6,700 across six months.

Republicans paid Senate staffers with law degrees a median 8% more than Democrats. Republicans staffers with master's degrees made 10% more. That amounts to a median six-month difference of $4,700 and $3,800, respectively.

Across all Senate personal-office staffers, Republicans paid their median staffer 4% more than Democrats. That's a median difference of $1,300 and does not account for education level.

Despite paying them less, Democratic personal offices employ a larger number of staffers with advanced degrees. Three-fourths of Senate PhD holders work for Democrats, according to LegiStorm estimates. Democrats also employ 57% of the Senate's attorneys and 62% of those with master's degrees.

This analysis examines the median pay across all full-time Senate staffers but does not reflect further distribution of those pay differences. These salary rates may not necessarily reflect the median staffer's pay rate for the entire year.