Democrat staffers are beginning to panic that they will be among the unemployed now that a GOP takeover of the U.S. Senate is plausible on Tuesday.
As Paul Bedard reports at the Washington Examiner, an estimated 300-600 Democrat committee and personal staff jobs are on the chopping block should the Republicans win the Senate.
“There will be a mass exodus of Senate Democrat staff from committees,” said one source.
Should the Democrats hold the Senate, no Republican jobs would be lost, except for those who are working for retiring or defeated lawmakers.
According to a deal made between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the funding and staff breakdown on Senate committees is approximately 60 percent for the majority and 40 percent for the minority.
Staffers say a loss for Democrats in the Senate would be bad timing for them. While about 10 percent could find jobs in the Obama administration, those positions are limited to two years.
Additionally, Hillary Clinton already has most of her team’s positions filled with long-time aides.
“There will be nowhere in the downtown private sector to go,” said a former White House aide who now is employed on K Street. “It will be ugly.”
The “ugliness” is likely due to the fact that many lobbying firms are filled with Democrats, in addition to the fact that a fair number of Democrat staffers have been working for retiring lawmakers.
“It could be a lot of individuals. And that’s not even counting all the people looking for work now with a retirement coming up,” said a key Senate Democratic staffer.
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