Among GOP staff, gloom, stoicism and the hum of copying resumes

After a rough election night for Republicans, a GOP staffer on a House committee would not expect a congratulatory call from an excited constituent.

But one such call came in, apparently intended for the ranking member who will soon be collecting the gavel.

Inside Republican committee offices yesterday, staff were either missing or cloistered behind closed doors talking about their future and the status of the House.

The offices of the Small Business Committee were virtually deserted and silent except for the hum of a copy machine, perhaps  producing resumes.

The sign on the door to the Committee on Resources, whose chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) fell to Democrat Jerry McNerney on Tuesday night, read, “Please do not disturb meeting in progress.”

The Democrat win means committee chairmanships will switch parties, resulting in an increase in staff for the current minority, and a decrease for the GOP as it becomes the minority.

Republican staffers who remained at work were despondent, unsure of what to think after waking to find that the Democrats claimed at least 28 new seats in the House with the possible knock-on effect of job cuts among the losers.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said one staff member. “It’s just too soon.”

“The mood is … uncertain,” admitted another Republican staffer who had been at his desk for only six months. “I just started sending out resumes.”

Traditionally budgets are tighter for minority members of committees. It was unclear if the new House Administration Committee would preserve the practice of granting two-thirds of committee funding to the majority and one third to the minority.

Calls to Ranking Member Juanita Millender-McDonald’s (D-Calif.) staff and a spokeswoman for Chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) were not returned.

Committee staff spoke on condition of anonymity since some might be job searching in the near future.

More seasoned staffers were less concerned and focused on next week’s “lame duck” session.

“Whatever,” said another staff member when asked whether she was concerned about the switch? “Everybody knows that job security is not a guarantee around here.”

The staffer, who had spent ten years on her committee, added, “We’ve got a job to do, especially with a busy next week. We’re just moving forward.”

Other members of staff echoed her comments. Said one of them, “You take it one day at a time … like a football team just staring down the next Sunday.”

Another said, “While we are most certainly disappointed by the loss of House control, our committee has consistently worked in a bipartisan manner and we look forward to that continued atmosphere.”

Still others argued that while the political composition of the House had changed, little else had done so or would do so.

“The atmosphere is changed but nobody is down in the dumps,” insisted one committee staff member. “Nobody’s at home sulking.”

But the empty offices told a different tale.

Democrats could be heard congratulating each other in the halls of the Cannon and Longworth office buildings. Minority committee staff tried to remain sensitive to their Republican counterparts despite their excitement.

“There has been no vengeance talk, no bitterness … When you are on a committee, you work together with the majority, you know these people,” said a minority committee staffer. “There is a lot of sympathy for [the majority staff] and empathy from [Democrats] who went through this in 1994.”

Democrats lost the House in 1994 after holding the majority for 40 years.

The biggest changes will occur when Democrats assume leadership rolls, including a vast adjustment in the schedule.

During his interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews early Wednesday morning, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a candidate for Democratic majority leader, said the House would be in session five days a week. This would be a departure from the GOP’s Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule and would mean significantly longer hours for members and staff.