Congressional & Legislative Affairs Teams

Written by Jaycie Risch, Anna Stueve, Michael Crosby, and Salma Ismaiel
June 2023

Congressional and Legislative Affairs employees provide an effective line of communication between federal agencies and congressional offices. They track policy relevant to their agency’s mission, initiate discussion with sponsors, committees, and stakeholders to shape legislation, and act as a liaison between members of Congress and federal departments. Leadership Connect’s analysis enables stronger interagency communication by providing the building blocks to establish a public sector network crucial for the efficiency of federal business.

Leadership Connect took a close look at the backgrounds of leaders in Federal Agencies: Where they went to school; where they worked before running their teams; did they have a background in STEM or serving in the military; and did they work on the Hill before working at the Federal level? Their backgrounds, including education and career history, are diverse. The education data represents colleges and universities at all degree levels, while career history is represented by their most recent role.

Hill: Only about 50% of Congressional and Legislative Affairs appointees have previous Hill experience.

Education: The bulk of appointees completed their undergraduate degrees between 2006 and 2015.

What was their prior career?: Over 75% of the individuals analyzed most previously worked in other federal agencies.

STEM: Less than 1/3 of appointees have a background in STEM (MS or BS degree).

Military Background: Less than 20% of appointees have a background in working with the military.

Gender:  With an almost even split between men and women appointed as Congressional and Legislative specialists, the data comes in at 51% male and 49% female. This reflects President Biden’s plan to diversify federal offices.

Years of Experience: 92% of appointees have at least 13 years of working experience.

Hill experience isn’t always needed

Almost half of these appointees do not have previous professional experience working on the Hill. However, their edge could come from their previous experience across the federal government.

College graduates from 2005 and 2006

The majority of individuals in Congressional, Legislative, and Public Policy roles across federal agencies average at about 13 years of professional experience.

Military Education

Of those that attended one of the nation’s military schools, alumni from the United States Naval Academy have the largest presence.

Alumni of Ivy League schools did not make up a majority of appointees. 60% of the Top 10 Schools of Congressional and LA Staff are public institutions. 26% of Congressional and LA staff studied at an institution in Washington, DC.

Data methodology

The Leadership Connect team used its own data on Congressional and Legislative Appointees with a total population of 380 individuals.  To see the full list, you can access it here.