Years after it became an unwelcomed American pastime, belt-tightening has come to Congress.
The $85 billion sequester, an across-the-board cut to federal spending that Congress conceived but never intended to actually take effect, has spawned an epidemic of unintended consequences.
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And in small but telling ways, the sequester has pierced the bubble that has long protected the highest echelons of official Washington, often from itself.
It is notable, for example, that congressional salaries are exempt from the sequester cuts, but lawmakers are otherwise beginning to feel the pinch that’s all too familiar to many American families and businesses. Earlier this month, they learned that their office budgets were being slashed by 8.2 percent. With the average congressional office running on about $1.3 million annually, members have had to trim a serious chunk of change.
Magazine subscriptions have been canceled.
Constituents are getting e-mail instead of snail mail.
Invoices are getting a second look.
No one is worried that Congress will not survive, but for an institution that is not above exempting itself from the laws it makes or remedies it prescribes, this is something of a novelty.
“This is what’s been going on in the ‘real world’ for the last five years or more,” said Rep. John Shimkus. The Illinois Republican has dealt with the cuts by holding off on hiring a part-time worker and by making small changes such as canceling his offices’ newspaper and magazine subscriptions. “We’re just catching up.”
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For Rep. John Campbell, it meant checking his phone bill. The California Republican found out he’d been paying almost double what he should have for outdated services and managed to save about $200 a month.
Campbell, who ran a car dealership for 25 years, is no stranger to budget trimming. “The automotive business is cyclical,” he said. “You get into a recession, people stop buying. You learn to adjust. This isn’t a new rodeo for me.”
Like many families trading a Disney visit for a staycation, travel is out for Rep. Scott R. Tipton. It’s expensive to criss-cross his home district, some 54,00 square miles of mountainous terrain. So the Colorado Republican said he’s keeping a close eye on overnight stays and food costs for himself and his staff. He’s also turning down some far-flung speaking engagements.
Tipton, too, ran a business before coming to Congress, a Native American pottery wholesale and retail operation. Back then, he said, “I’d miss paychecks if I didn’t get the job done.”
Many other lawmakers are doing something small businesses have done for years as they waited out lean years: stalling on filling positions. Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-N.J.) is holding off on hiring for two open jobs in his office. One is a policy job, and the other, which Andrews fears will hurt the most, is a constituent-services caseworker.
The Congressional Management Foundation has been advising offices on how to handle the cuts; its guidance has included everything from moving district offices to save rent to switching from bottled water to tap filters.
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