Mr. Spence Goes to Washington

I spent the last year working as a policy advisor in the US Senate. Here's what I learned.

2023 was a year of upheaval. Inflation surged to its highest level since the 1970s, artificial intelligence went mainstream with ChatGPT, a Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an F-22, and the world watched as Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, followed by Israel’s invasion of Gaza. These were just a few of the events that shaped the year, but I had the unique perspective of witnessing them from inside the halls of Congress. In February 2023, I started a new job as a Senate Policy Advisor, giving me a front-row seat to how the U.S. government responds to crises, debates policy, and (sometimes) actually gets things done. Over the past year, I gained an insider’s understanding of how Washington really works—what’s broken, what’s functional, and what might actually be fixable. This post is a reflection on that experience and the lessons I’ve learned.

A Non-Traditional Path to Politics

My background doesn’t naturally lend itself to politics. I began my career at Texas A&M University as a cybersecurity analyst, and after graduating in 2021, I worked as a back-end software engineer for a startup called Evernym. I loved my work at Evernym, but after we were acquired (and then acquired again), I decided I wanted a change (mergers ruin everything). Evernym had spent a considerable amount of time working with governments on digital identity policy, though almost exclusively with European governments. I wanted to see if I could do something to help the U.S.

I’d long had an interest in public policy, but until then, it had mostly manifested as a minor Twitter addiction. It wasn’t until I happened upon a nonprofit called TechCongress that I realized I could do more than just watch from the sidelines. TechCongress places computer scientists, engineers, and other technologists as technology policy advisors to Members of Congress—an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. After writing a few essays and going through several interviews, I signed an offer and made plans to move to D.C. This was my chance to do what I love—solve problems—at a scale unlike any other.

Tackling Big Problems from Day One

And wow, did I get to tackle some big problems. I came in intending to focus on my area of expertise: digital identity. But that plan quickly fell apart when I joined a Senate office and had no fewer than six bills dropped on my desk on my first day. My new boss, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), was not one to waste time. Over the next year, I led policy work in areas both familiar and unfamiliar—and I often found that the unfamiliar was the most enjoyable.

I had several opportunities to work on digital identity policy, most notably by writing the POST ID Act, but I ended up spending most of my time on two subjects: privacy and customs. All six of those initial bills were privacy-related, including the Children’s and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, which I became the lead Republican staffer on. Senator Cassidy had also begun a long-term project to reform U.S. policy on international trade, particularly focusing on balancing our trade relationship with China and preventing abuses like trade-based money laundering. A major part of this effort involved modernizing the U.S. Customs system—especially its technical backbone, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). This technical component drew me onto the trade team, and it opened my eyes to a whole new area of policy—one I am now somewhat obsessed with.

A Year of Learning and Influence

In the last year, I have written letters to agency heads, conducted oversight on major federal programs, authored multiple pieces of legislation, and nearly started a fight with another Senate office over a health program in Africa. I even got to meet Bill Gates! Throughout it all, I saw both the best and worst of our political process. While it was often frustrating, it was also oddly inspiring.

I came in with plenty of opinions about what was wrong with the government. While some of those were correct, I discovered that Congress was just as broken as I had imagined—but in dramatically different ways than I expected. Here are some of the lessons I learned:

Lesson 1: Congress Is Not Too Old—It’s Too Young

This might sound absurd at first, but bear with me. Members of Congress are the oldest they’ve ever been—the average House member is now in their mid-to-late sixties, and senators are even older. And yet, you would be forgiven for failing to see the wisdom that should come with age. The reason? Members of Congress are not the ones primarily responsible for writing policy. That role is delegated (to varying degrees) to congressional staff, and this staff may be the youngest it has ever been.

Wouldn’t older members want to surround themselves with experienced advisors rather than a bunch of 20-somethings young enough to be their kids (or grandkids)? They might—but older, experienced advisors are expensive, and Congress no longer has the budget to afford them.

Starting in the 1990s, Congress slashed its own budget as a mostly symbolic gesture to prove they were “living their values.” Since then, congressional spending has continued to decline in real terms, leaving the average congressional office with fewer and lower-paid staffers than it had in the mid-20th century. If it seems like Congress doesn’t know what it’s doing, that’s because, to a large extent, you get what you pay for.

The staff Congress does hire tend to be very bright and, contrary to public perception, usually have genuinely good intentions. The problem is that D.C. is an expensive city, and the average congressional staffer is not paid much. Staff assistants make about $40,000 a year on average, with legislative correspondents earning only slightly more. These are the front-line staff who interact with constituents, and they’re paid less than a night manager at a Chick-fil-A. Legislative aides make about $60,000, and legislative assistants around $80,000—but even that is far below what similarly credentialed professionals make in the private sector, especially in D.C.

As a result, turnover rates are extremely high—even beyond what you might expect, given that every time a member loses re-election or retires, their entire staff loses their jobs. This lack of experience and institutional knowledge severely hinders congressional policymaking and has led to a substantial amount of policy being outsourced to federal agencies and lobbyists. It also means that policymaking is disproportionately influenced by a highly educated, mostly childless, and disproportionately affluent set of young elites—because those who come from wealth are often the only ones who can afford to take these jobs.

Lesson 2: Congress Actually Gets a Lot Done—You Just Never Hear About It

If you’re outside D.C., you’re probably thinking I’m full of it. After all, the prevailing narrative has long been that Congress is a do-nothing body full of dirtbags and lazy bureaucrats. There’s a grain of truth to that—some members genuinely are terrible—but the reality is more complicated.

In today’s polarized environment, getting things done often requires that the public believe nothing is happening. It sounds counterintuitive, but here’s why:

Politicians respond to electoral incentives. Most members of Congress genuinely want to make positive changes. However, our current political climate strongly discourages them from working with the opposing party. Many high-profile bills have failed simply because one side didn’t want to “give the other side a win.”

And yet, members still want to accomplish something. The solution? “Secret Congress.”

Congress actually does work together on many issues—but only on topics that don’t dominate public discourse. This allows progress without alienating partisan voters. As a result, many important but less politically charged policies get passed quietly, while highly visible, controversial issues remain gridlocked.

This is not a good system. But it does mean that Congress isn’t entirely dysfunctional—it’s just constrained by the political realities of our time.

Final Lesson: We Can Fix This

These problems are solvable. They aren’t inherent to our constitutional system; they stem from policy choices, and they can be fixed with new policy choices.

We need to reform partisan primaries, consider ranked-choice voting, and, perhaps most importantly, increase congressional staff budgets to attract experienced professionals.

Above all—don’t despair. Change is possible. Cynicism is easy, but there is hope.

What interesting times we live in.

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