The “Do nothing Congress” no more. Bills and legislation might still be stalled, but members of Congress and their respective staffs are running full speed ahead — or at least walking.
Republican Reps. John Boehner and Fred Upton and Democratic Reps. Patrick Murphy and Steve Israel have all gotten into the fitness tracking craze, counting their steps each day and engaging in friendly competition over the results, the Washington Post reports. Other agencies and departments have also gotten into the fun.
“The type of people you find on Capitol Hill are very competitive by nature,” said Alexa Marrero, a senior aide to Upton who competes with him. (He accuses her of cheating by moving to the Hill so she could walk to work.) “You have a bunch of Type A personalities in jobs prone to keeping you behind a desk all day, so there are a lot of people who have found this as a fun way to get up.”
The ensuing competition has apparently led to a lot of trash talking emails from one side of the aisle to the other.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is one of the most competitive step counters, the Post reported. Other senators have asked him about tracking their steps, but he said he doesn’t encourage all of them.
“I need to figure out who I can beat first,” he told WaPo. “I need to find a lazy senator or two.”
His staff also takes the competition seriously.
“If it’s important to the boss,” McClure said, “it’s important to the staff.”
She quickly found out how important it was when, instead of dropping him off at an event, he asked her to park far away.
“It’s 98 degrees out, I have heels on, but yes, let’s go park far away,” McClure recalls thinking. “Great idea.”
But she adjusted well. While working in Arkansas, she often monitors her colleagues in Washington online and, when appropriate, sends messages such as: “Were you off all week? Were you sick all week? Did you break a leg?”
