Members of Congress gave Politico a slew of stunning insights on the U.S. House of Representatives, with some like Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) spilling the tea on Representatives drinking on the clock during late-night votes or being too cognitively impaired to do their jobs. Others shared stories about prescription drugs, dementia, and more in frank comments from both sides of the aisle gathered by a bevy of Politico reporters.
25 members of Congress elected to dish on what life is like serving in one of the two chambers of America’s preeminent legislative body for an extensive, crazy, and sometimes shocking report published by Politico on Friday covering aspects of serving in the House that don’t always come up.
The series of awesome quotes ran the gamut from remarks about wild behavior or unfitness to doubtful commentary from those who say they’ve seen on such thing – and a lot in between.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) told Politico he believes much of the wild stuff goes down in the lower chamber. He was asked if life in Congress was in any way similar to what is seen on the Netflix drama House of Cards.
Ossoff replied, “I go from the office to bed to the office, but the House is a wilder place by reputation.”
In the House, Himes questioned the mental “faculties” of many of those he serves with and also dished on their drinking habits.
“Every time we do an 11 p.m. vote, a minority of the chamber has a zero blood alcohol content,” the Connecticut Democrat said. “Now, that’s different than voting drunk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody demonstrably drunk on the floor.”
Himes also said, “There’s no question that somewhere between six and a dozen of my colleagues are at a point where they’re … I think they don’t have the faculties to do their job.”
While Himes said he had never seen anyone stumbling drunk on the House floor, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told a tale of one member he declined to name who he said came to work inebriated.
Beyer said, “Well, I’ve seen one Republican who, unfortunately for you, has to go unnamed, show up drunk a number of times. There were one or two Dems I thought might be high on something but not drunk.”
Other elected officials dished on everything from marital infidelity to when it’s time to retire.
Other revelations and opinions on life in Congress from more than two dozen people can be read in their entirety here.
