The topic of this episode is, “How can the House of Representatives better prepare new members?”
My guest is Rep. Stephanie Bice, a Republican who has represented Oklahoma’s fifth congressional district for the past four years. She previously served in the Oklahoma state legislature from from 2014 to 2020. Prior to that, she worked in business for her family’s technology company and her own marketing firm.
I first met Rep. Bice perhaps eight years ago. I was studying alcohol policy reform and she was deep in the process of helping rewrite some of Oklahoma’s outdated alcoholic beverage laws.
Rep. Bice, I should add, sits on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. And most relevant for this podcast, she also is on the Committee on House Administration, which has jurisdiction over many matters including the onboarding of new members of Congress.
Kevin Kosar:
Welcome to Understanding Congress, a podcast about the first branch of government. Congress is a notoriously complex institution, and few Americans think well of it. But Congress is essential to our republic. It is a place where our pluralistic society is supposed to work out its differences and come to agreement about what our laws should be.
And that is why we are here: to discuss our national legislature and to think about ways to upgrade it so it can better serve our nation. I am your host, Kevin Kosar, and I’m a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington DC.
Rep. Stephanie Bice, welcome to the program.
Stephanie Bice:
Thank you for having me, excited to be here.
Kevin Kosar:
You were first elected to Congress in November of 2020. When you arrived in Washington, DC, what was the onboarding process like?
Stephanie Bice:
It was unique. Back in November 2020, we were under COVID protocols, so I flew to Washington, DC, and I remember vividly that there was virtually no one on the flights—I was almost flying solo in some ways. It made new member orientation challenging, and the reason was everyone was masked and social distancing.
We used an auditorium in the visitor center to hold briefings to learn about what the responsibilities of a new member would be and how the office is structured, but there was not a lot of engagement—we did not engage with our Republican or Democratic counterparts. And I did not feel like the structure was conducive to understanding or learning the things that we needed to learn. It was a two week process. There was a lot to learn and a lot to absorb in that short timeframe, so you are sort of drinking from a fire hose for a couple of weeks. A lot of it is very necessary and important, but there were some things that I felt like could be done better or more efficiently.
As a state legislator prior to being elected to Congress, I created a mentorship program for new members coming into the state senate because we did not have one at that time. I looked at our onboarding process—what we call new member orientation—and realized that there were a lot of gaps I felt like were missing and a lot of things that we should be doing that we were not.
Kevin Kosar:
Who is in charge of the onboarding process? Who are you learning from when you arrive in DC?
Stephanie Bice:
It is actually put together by the majority party, and what is interesting is that the majority party may change, but it still puts on the new member orientation because the actual Congress does not change until January. So that November/December timeframe for new member orientation is being created by the current majority party.
So when I was first elected to Congress, most of the programming was done by the Democratic House leadership and the Committee on House Administration that was in charge at the time. There were some pieces of it that Republicans did separately—there was some programming that each party did separately—but for the most part it is driven by the party in charge at the time.
Kevin Kosar:
When most folks start a new job, one of the things they are handed is a position description and maybe an employee handbook, in addition to the many forms that you have to fill out. Did you get an instructional guide?
Stephanie Bice:
We did not. You have somewhat of an idea of what you are signing up for, but I think the reality is so vastly different from the expectation.
Having been a state legislator prior to being elected to Congress, I had a much better understanding of the dynamics of how things operate within a legislative body. I cannot imagine being in the business section or some other public sector and walking into Congress having no perspective at all on the legislative process or what our job really does entail.
A lot of orientation was more focused on how to set up an office, how to hire staff, what computer programs you would use to keep track of constituent requests, what your responsibilities are from an HR standpoint, etc. What is probably more interesting about Congress and particularly individual offices is we are all run like individual small businesses. You are given a budget and some caps (e.g., you can only have a maximum of 18 staff in the House—that includes your district staff as well as your DC staff), and told “Go forth and prosper.” So, if you are not familiar with dealing with budget, hiring processes, etc.—we had to write an employee handbook from scratch. Now, there are resources within the House that can help you with a lot of those things. There are entities such as the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) that can be helpful, but you are given some generic guardrails, which can make it somewhat challenging.
Very early on, we were assigned a staffer who was part of the House Administration team, and they were incredibly helpful in explaining different aspects. But I think it also would have been helpful to have a senior or veteran staffer assigned as a mentor from day one, who you could bounce things off of and ask questions because as you are going through these orientation sessions—maybe 4, 5, or 6 a day—there are questions that come up that you are probably wondering, “How do I manage this?” or “What did you do in this situation?” We did get a mentor—I have an amazing mentor—but it was not done until February, and at that point you are already moving forward. So I think having someone to be there and walk with you from the very beginning is valuable.
Kevin Kosar:
To follow up on the comparison of arriving in Congress versus your experience in Oklahoma, I imagine the scale is larger, but was there any encouragement for developing collegiality with members of the other party?
Stephanie Bice:
For my class—the 117th Congress—it was very divided. Part of this was due to COVID, but also there was just this divide within Congress. We were separated pretty regularly: Republicans would go on one bus to a seminar or orientation, and there were very few opportunities for us to collaborate together. Frankly, we may have broken the rules a little bit sometimes and got together in small groups because we wanted to get to know each other.
There are freshman class presidents that are elected by their classmates. I was very honored and humbled to be chosen by my class as the freshman class president, but I did not know who the Democratic freshman class president was for a while. And finally, when I got to know who that was, I thought, ‘We should be having conversations around what can we be doing collectively as new members in 2020/2021.’
It was unbelievably challenging because of the restrictions that were put on us. DC was very, very closed off. Restaurants—if they were open—were at 25 percent capacity. There just was not a lot of personal engagement. And I think that is one of the contributing factors to the conflict right now we see in Congress is because we have not developed those personal relationships.
Kevin Kosar:
When you won re-election and came back to Congress as a returning member, did you have a role to play in the onboarding process, be it official or informal?
Stephanie Bice:
I did not, actually. But I looked at my initial new member orientation and realized that it was not well laid out and there were a lot of things that could have been done differently. For example, I think two or three days passed before we as new members ever took a step on the House floor. That moment is such an unbelievable moment, when you realize that you are going to be a member of this institution. I really felt that that should have been the very first thing—Day One, you should have been taken to the House floor to just sit and be in awe of, “I did this. I made it to Congress.”
So, I put together this very elaborate document of how I thought that the new member orientation should be laid out, and I presented it to the majority leader at the time, Kevin McCarthy, and said, “Hey, I don’t know who decides what the new member orientation looks like, but here are some thoughts from somebody that went through it, but has also created my own new member program in the state legislature. Here’s what I would do differently.” A few months later, I got a call from someone who said, “Hey, guess what? You did such a great job with putting together what you think new member orientation is like. You get to be a part of it now.”
So, this Congress, I was very graciously given the opportunity to be a subcommittee chair on the Committee on House Administration. I chair the Modernization Subcommittee and our full committee has some engagement with new member orientation.
Kevin Kosar:
You have talked about some of the things that were not as good as they should be about the onboarding process, and then you moved into a position where you’re able to influence it.
For somebody who shows up as a new member after this coming election, how will their onboarding process differ from yours (other than COVID)?
Stephanie Bice:
One of the things that I have asked for is to do more group activities, to do things together, to get to know each other. Years ago, there were members of Congress that actually lived in Washington, DC. They would move their family to DC and visit their district on a pretty frequent basis. And there was a benefit to that that probably goes unnoticed. If you have all these members of Congress living on Capitol Hill or living in Old Town Alexandria, you get to know them on a personal level. You get to know their families, their spouses and their children.
I am reminded of the relationship that Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan had. They were fiercely, opposed when it came to policy areas, but they knew that at the end of the day, they could come together over an adult beverage and figure things out. I think we have lost the art of that in some ways, and part of it is because we do not see each other often. Most members now are living in their districts and flying to DC during the week—maybe Monday through Thursday or Tuesday through Friday. There is not a lot of opportunity to get to know your colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
So there has to be some thought put into how we do more of that. Certainly with new member orientation, there is going to be a lot more collective activities to be able to get engagement together, whether it be small icebreakers at the beginning of orientation or conversations around housing (e.g., What are people doing to find housing in DC? How are they making it work?). There are a lot of areas that are not policy driven where everyone is experiencing things together. I think it is better if we try to engage new members in those conversations collectively.
Kevin Kosar:
Absolutely. As I like to tell students, Congress is a remarkable institution. You take 535 people from all over the country, who come through differently-timed elections, different districts, different size districts, etc., put them under a big shiny dome and you say, “Cooperate for the common good.” Easier said than done. And as you suggest, it you do not know people, it is harder to find those opportunities to work together.
Are there other aspects of the onboarding process where you think that a member coming in next January is going to have a better experience than you had?
Stephanie Bice:
Another thing that we are looking at doing is continuing education. It is one thing to go through two weeks or ten days of orientation on how to set up your office, what you should be focused on, and how to hire a staff. But there needs to be continuing conversations moving forward, so we are looking at how we do weekly half hour or an hour sessions on the different committees, what are committee jurisdictions and focuses, how does the appropriations process work, etc. These are things that we are going to have to learn, but it is better if members have a smaller environment to do so, and they have the freedom to be able to ask questions in those environments. Having these follow up conversations is important because there is so much coming at you during new member orientation. You just do not retain it all.
I think it is also important for members to realize that they cannot do it all. You have got to delegate. So delegating some work to a transition aide—or if you have somebody that you want to bring on to staff—is going to be an important piece as well.
I also did not think the way things were laid out made a lot of sense, so there are going to be some changes to that.
Finally, I mentioned I came from a legislative body, but so many members do not. If you have never seen the house floor and look at the board, you may be wondering, “What’s a motion to recommit? What is a previous question? How do I know how I am supposed to vote in some ways?” And so I think understanding the rules process and floor procedures is an area we could do a much better job moving forward.
Kevin Kosar:
I would say so. Legislative procedure is really complex, but for an individual legislator to be effective and to also know where the opportunities are and where the process is being perhaps directed from the authorities within the chamber, you have got to know the rules. It is not as simple as learning chess. There is a lot there.
It is a tough question—how to fit continuing education into a member’s difficult schedule—not least because members are flying in and out of town, managing staff, dealing with constituent requests, and handling party duties, fundraising, press relations on top of your legislative and oversight duties. There is a lot for members to handle already.
Stephanie Bice:
That is exactly right. There are so many different moving parts of this. And you have some members that are in highly competitive districts, so how they operate their office may be different from another member. Some members are covering their entire state (e.g., at-large members from North and South Dakota). My congressional district is a little smaller, so it is easier to manage. But how do you manage a congressional district that is an entire state? You have to figure out those nuances, which is why I think that continuing education piece and partnering you up with somebody that understands those dynamics can be really helpful.
Kevin Kosar:
Absolutely. This has been fascinating. We have hit the end of our time, so let me thank you for coming on to the show—being a member of Congress is a tough job that requires a person to balance a lot of competing demands.
And thank you very much for moving the ball forward on helping new members better acclimate to their jobs and become better prepared to be effective members of Congress.
Stephanie Bice:
Well, Kevin, thank you for having me. I think it is really important that the public get a little inside baseball, if you will, to this process. And certainly I am here to try to do the best I can to help those that are coming after me be successful here in Washington, DC.
Kevin Kosar:
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to Understanding Congress, a podcast of the American Enterprise Institute. This program was produced by Jaehun Lee and hosted by Kevin Kosar. You can subscribe to Understanding Congress via Stitcher, iTunes, Google Podcasts, and TuneIn. We hope you will share this podcast with others and tell us what you think about it by posting your thoughts and questions on Twitter and tagging at AEI. Once again, thank you for listening, and have a great day.
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