Good morning. Next week is set to be a quieter one on the Hill—Congress isn’t scheduled to return for votes until the week of May 10. The last time members had a recess, we brought you an off-the-daily-news-cycle issue including interviews with two House freshmen about their time in Congress so far. Are there any specific lawmakers you want to hear from next week? We’ll try our best to make it happen. Let us know in the comments.

Lawmakers Push Staff Pay Bump

Top Democrats, concerned about turnover and institutional brain drain, are calling for a boost in funding to pay congressional staff higher salaries.

In a letter to leading House appropriators this week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries urged a 20 percent increase in funding for members’ spending allowances. They noted that staff salaries over the past decade have not accounted for inflation, and working for Congress is, for many, unsustainable.

Hoyer and Jeffries wrote that a funding increase for individual offices, committees, and leadership offices would not only enable existing congressional staff to receive pay raises and more benefits, but also increase capacity to recruit talented new staff who would otherwise be deterred by less competitive salaries.