 Former lawmakers and aides wonder if Congress has lost some of its expertise. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) By Max Ehrenfreund Now that they have one of their own in the White House, Republicans in Congress have ambitious plans: overhauling the country's financial regulation, upending health policy, rewriting the new tax code and rebuilding the country's infrastructure. With so much work to do, even a veteran lawmaker steeped in the details of public policy could struggle to keep it all straight. For the heavy lifting of writing amendments and making bills, legislators have traditionally turned to their aides, who spend their work days burrowing into niche policy areas. But at a time when lawmakers are badly in need of advice from their staff, the typical lawmaker will have fewer of them to turn to. The average number of aides supporting a rank-and-file House member has been in decline for several years because of budget cuts. Meanwhile, Congress's independent research bodies — agencies once filled with lawyers, engineers, physicists and economists on call to answer technical questions about complicated bills — have long been short-staffed as lawmakers have looked for ways to save money. The shift, according to interviews with current and former legislators, their aides and political scientists, has left lawmakers short on expertise, preparation and know-how. They have been forced to rely on lobbyists and party leaders to guide them through the legislative process, and many rank-and-file members are effectively sidelined. 
A lack of emphasis on knowledgeable staff is "one of the weaknesses of the Congress in the modern era," said former congressman Jim Leach (R-Iowa.). "The more complicated society has become, the more complicated government becomes, and the more important it is to have professional expertise." "Almost everybody that you will talk to on the Hill will say something like, 'We don't have the expertise that we need,' " said Lee Drutman, a political scientist at the New America Foundation in Washington. | 
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