LegiStorm

If they want to take full advantage of this year's budget increase, House offices need to dramatically up their spending since March.

The average personal office spent just 15.9 percent of their budget in the year's first quarter, according to LegiStorm data. In normal years, that number ranges from 18.5 to 19.8 percent.

But this isn't a normal year in House office spending: In March, Congress authorized a 21 percent increase to the House's office budgets for the 2022 fiscal year. That's the highest increase to the Member Representation Allowance since its first authorization in 1996.

The MRA increase gave the average office an extra $327,475 this year, equivalent to $81,868 per quarter.

Only 11 representatives spent enough in the first quarter to touch any of those additonal funds: Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), John Carter (R-Texas), Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif), Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), as well as ex-Rep. Filemón Vela (D-Texas), who resigned from office the last day of the quarter.

All other representatives disclosed Q1 spending at rates that would have been sustainable without any MRA increase.

The increase was intended to bolster staffers salaries in order to attract and retain talent. Although some offices may have begun increasing salaries before the end of the first quarter, the extent of staffer pay increases won't be clear until the House releases its Q2 expense data in late August.

Offices have until Sept. 1 to institute the House's new minimum salary of $45,000 per year.

Ex-Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) has led the Ohio Chamber of Commerce back to Washington, with inaugural lobbying registrations for both the organization and the former congressman.

According to its first federal lobbying filing, Stivers is one half of an Ohio Chamber pair lobbying on the United States Innovation and Competition Act and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act. Stivers resigned from Congress to lead the Ohio Chamber in May 2021.

Former members are required to wait one year from the time they leave Congress before lobbying the House or Senate, per ethics rules. 

The Ohio Chamber lists Justin Barnes, a former Stivers congressional aide and now the executive director of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation, as its other lobbyist.

A Democratic legislative director has moved to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Natasha Silva is now a senior director for federal government relations at the nonprofit. NMSS lobbies the federal government on a wide range of issues related to multiple sclerosis research, education and services.

Silva was most recently Rep. Bill Keating's (D-Mass.) legislative director and previously worked for Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).

Two years into the pandemic, congressional Republicans are holding fewer town halls than Democrats. But they're far more likely to brave constituents - and perhaps the virus - in person.

Democrats have held 54 percent of this year's 862 town halls, according to LegiStorm data. Only one-fourth of Democrats' 469 town halls have been in person, with the party instead opting for telephone, Facebook, Zoom and other online formats.

Republicans, meanwhile, have hosted two-thirds of their 393 town halls in person - many without any apparent COVID-19 precautions.

Before the pandemic, virtual town halls were the exception, not the norm. In the same time period in 2019, Democrats held 93 percent of their town halls in person. Republicans held 82 percent in person. Since then, members have experienced an increase in the number of physical threats against them. Many have hired security.

Both parties are still holding fewer town halls overall. Compared to the same period in 2019, Democrats have held 28 percent fewer town halls. Republicans have held 18 percent fewer.

Turkey's authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has enlisted his Connecticut-based cousin to drum up U.S. support for Erdogan's party in coming elections, according to new Department of Justice disclosures.

Halil Mutlu, who is a physician, is helping Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) to carry out "political, social and cultural activities" for Turkish nationals living in the U.S., in hopes of winning their votes. The filings say that Mutlu will also disseminate party materials and work with "U.S. politicians, government organizations, non-profit organizations, etc."

Turkey will hold its next presidential election in 2023. Turkish expats, especially those living in the U.S., were reportedly instrumental in Erdogan's 2018 election.

Mutlu is the sole member of the party's U.S. representation. He engages directly with Erdogan and is not being paid for the work, according to the disclosures.