INVESTIGATIONS
Nobody home: Local congressional offices sit empty and you pay for it
KHOU 11 Investigates spent months visiting every local office of every U.S. Representative whose district is in the Greater Houston area. Most were staffed during normal business hours ready to handle constituent questions ranging from veteran benefits to Medicare coverage.
In the Heights, we visited Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s branch office eight different times and found the door was always locked. Her congressional website states it’s open weekdays during normal business hours.
“Why are the blinds closed?” asked taxpayer Rachel Andres. “It is the House of Representatives.”
No one was representing Jackson Lee and two of her other branch offices—one in Houston’s fifth ward and the other in Acres Homes.
“Are you letting everybody know that these are few pennies that we pay to make sure we can meet our constituents at their need,” said U.S. Rep. Jackson Lee.
It’s not exactly pennies. Federal spending records show the rent for the congresswoman’s three satellite offices is more than $3,000 per month.
“What I say to (constituents) is, ‘If we’re not there, leave a note,’” Jackson Lee.
When questioned if that was a disservice, the congresswoman defended the practice.
“I don’t think that is as—how should I say it—as difficult to understand as you try to make it out to be,” she said.
But it’s easy to understand from the perspective of University of Houston Political Science Professor Brandon Rottinghaus.
“It sends the image that government is closed for business,” Rottinghaus said. “It’s money that’s being wasted and nobody likes to see taxpayer money wasted.”
It’s not just one member of Congress. We made multiple visits and found nobody staffing U.S. Representative Michael McCaul’s satellite office in Katy. The congressman spends $700 per month in rent and his website lists the location as open “by appointment only.”
https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/nobody-home-local-congressional-offices-sit-empty-and-you-pay-for-it/615334223?