Diversity has been under attack in Washington since Donald Trump took office and started to impose measures to eliminate it from the federal government. Capitol Hill is apparently no exception to this as the number of people of color has dwindled in representation among House staffers.

According to a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, major House of Representatives staff, including chiefs of staff, legislative directors, and communications directors in the legislators’ offices and staff directors on full committees, are at a significantly low number when it comes to nonwhite staffers.

“Top staff shape how Congress works, whose voices are heard, and what priorities get advanced,” LaShonda Brenson, the Joint Center senior researcher who co-authored the study, said in a prepared statement. “This analysis shows that the people in those roles don’t yet reflect the people served by Congress — especially in offices representing racially diverse districts.”

The underrepresentation in various vital roles is stark, according to the report. People of color are only 21.6 percent of all top House staff, despite making up 42.9 percent of the U.S. population. Still, this was an increase from 13.7 percent [INCREASE FROM WHEN], with legislative directors going up 11 percent. 

But that’s the good news. African Americans, once an already low 6.7 percent of staffers, have now dropped to 6 percent. Additionally, of the 303 personal offices occupied by white House members, 25 of them have people of color working as chiefs of staff. Sixteen work for Democrats and nine for Republicans.

“Even though we’ve seen modest gains in staff diversity over the years, there is still disproportionate representation of top staffers of color,” Kimberly Victor, Joint Center research associate and co-author said. “It’s especially troubling that Black representation among top staffers has decreased from 6.7 percent to just six percent since 2018. It’s clear that there’s still progress to be made.”

As a matter of fact, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus account for almost 60 percent of the people of color and more than 33 percent of Black top staff in comparison to members of other major legislative caucuses, the report shows.

Out of 1244 top house staff, 977 are white, 80 are Latino, 77 are Black, 50 are Asian-American/Pacific Islander, 17 are Middle Eastern, and just two are Native American. Forty-one identified as biracial or more than one racial category.

The report recommends that the House publicly release disaggregated staff data and develop diversity plans for each personnel and committee office. But it remains to be seen if the conservative majority would even do that; the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion was sunset in 2024.

A similar report about diversity among Senate staffers last year revealed that nonwhite personnel represent only 21.4 percent of pathway staff which includes deputy chiefs of staff, senior advisers, legislative assistants, counsels, and press secretaries/deputy communications directors. That is still higher than top staff of color, which is about 15.8 percent. White pathway staff were at 78.6 percent and top staff was at 84.2 percent.

“Congress cannot legislate effectively if it lacks the lived experiences of the communities it serves,” said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Joint Center president. “We urge House leadership to restore and strengthen infrastructure such as the ODI and take measurable steps to close these persistent representation gaps.”

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