Establish a nonbinding, voluntary pay band system for House staff that includes a salary floor and average salary for each position in Member offices based on various factors including seniority, tenure, comparable pay, and cost-of-living.

In order for Congress to retain staff and build capacity, staff need to be paid more, and expect to receive standard cost of living adjustments, as well as raises based on tenure and merit. An established, nonbinding pay band system will encourage staff to stay on Capitol Hill for longer because they will have greater clarity regarding what they can expect to be paid.  Such a system can also provide staff with an additional tool to ask for more compensation and could also prevent major pay discrepancies in pay between congressional offices.

In order to establish a nonbinding pay band system in the House, current and reliable data on staff salaries is needed. However, the lack of data on what House staff are paid, by position, makes it difficult to compare House staff salaries with either the executive branch or the private sector. While the salaries are public information and listed in quarterly Statements of Disbursement, and third-party websites and organizations compile information on salaries in Congress, the data remains uneasy to reach or access, lacking, and incomplete. Thus, the Committee also recommends that information on annual salaries for the positions in House Member offices, and for Committees, should be compiled either through available information or through a survey. Once the House collects data on staff salaries by position, this information can then help the House establish a reasonable and nonbinding pay band system for staff positions.