LegiStorm

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.

Former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), perennially named to The Hill's "Top Lobbyists" list, is now officially a registered lobbyist.

The Credit Union National Association has added Nussle to its lineup of registered lobbyists, according to a pair of recent disclosures. Nussle has served as CEO of the trade group since 2014 and has appeared on The Hill's "Top Lobbyists" list every year since. Individuals are permitted to lobby the federal government without registering if their lobbying activities do not meet certain time and expense thresholds.

CUNA's lobbying team made headlines earlier this year after Robert Lewis Jr., the group's former top lobbyist, alleged that CUNA had brought him on as a "token diversity hire." Lewis, who is Black, further alleged that Nussle claimed to have "never had a Black direct report in [his] career" and did "not know how to manage" Lewis. CUNA has maintained that race was not a factor in Lewis's hiring or termination.

Nussle is the former House Budget Committee chair and was later Office of Management and Budget director under President George W. Bush.

The House's pay gap between male and female staffers is close to a 20-year low, according to LegiStorm data.

House Democrats saw no pay disparity between their median female and male staffers in the first quarter of 2023. The female-male pay gap has ranged from 0-2% since 2015, down from a 20-year high of 10%.

The median female Republican House staffer made 97% that of her male counterpart during that same time period - a difference of about $450 in three months. Twenty years ago, the median female Republican staffer made 86% that of Republican men. The GOP's pay gap has ranged from 2-4% since 2019.

Women make up 57% of House Democrats' workforce and 46% of Republicans'.

Across both parties, women working in communications positions made 97% that of the median male communications staffer. Women working in policy positions brought home 3% more than men, while those working in constituent services made virtually the same amount. This does not compare exact job titles.

Across both parties, women working out of D.C. offices made the same amount as the median male D.C. staffer. The median male and female district staffers also made the same amount in Q1.

This analysis examines the median pay across all full-time House staffers but does not reflect further distribution of those pay differences. These salary rates include any annual bonuses that were paid in Q1 and may not necessarily reflect the median staffer's pay rate for the entire year.