Comment by simonw
2 years ago
My understanding of how US congress works is that you have to serve for decades in order to land the most influential positions - chair of various committees etc.
If you've served less than ten years your impact is likely limited. The politicians who have the most influence are the ones who have been there the longest.
> My understanding of how US congress works is that you have to serve for decades in order to land the most influential positions -
The current Speaker of the House, the highest ranking position in Congress and the second in line of Presidential succession, has been in Congress for 6 years.
Except for the President Pro Tem of the Senate, which traditionally goes to the longest-serving member of the majority party, most positions of authority or influence just require the support of either the majority or minority party caucus; longevity is correlated with that, but not a requirement in itself.
The current speaker of the house is a huge exception to how this usually works.
The preceding Speaker had been in Congress for 16 years (note: also not "since the late 1980s"), but had also been in caucus leadership positions all but the first two, and was #3 in the party caucus arte four years. Yeah, the current Speaker is ane extreme case, but it's simply not the case that position is simply a function of longevity normally.