This lame duck session of Congress has been a rocky one, in part because the Republicans have lost their majorities. Departing members and staff are distracted by the need to dismantle their offices and rebuild their careers -- almost overnight.
On the surface, of course, it's business as usual. A late night in the Senate this last week included Senators and reporters talking in the halls, and in a meeting room near the Senate floor, a holiday party.
But there are scores of people walking around Capitol Hill feeling like they want the license number of the truck that hit them -- that's how one congressman put it.
It's an upheaval we haven't seen in 12 years and the debris is everywhere. Members' name plates have been stripped off doors. The wide hallways are stacked with big wooden desks and leather sofas, file cabinets and chairs.
In 1994, House Republicans took command and started to implement their perceived mandate. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma was one of them.
This year, Istook ran for governor of Oklahoma and lost. So when he came back to the Capitol this week, for the lame duck session, he also attended a workshop on job-hunting for former members.
The jobs workshop did have some lighter moments, such as a list of Top 10 reasons to leave Congress now. No. 8: You'll always been The Honorable (at least to your pets). And No. 7: When it's time for a vote, you can keep drinking.
But it's not a laughing matter. Istook and other departing House members have been evicted from their offices. So for the past couple of weeks, their official workplaces have been at the Departing Members Service Center.
It sounds like a place to get your oil changed for the long drive back home. But it's really a political purgatory, down in the basement of an office building. Gray partitions make cubicles. No name plates. No marble. Just plastic numbers on top of the partitions.
Each departing lawmaker got a small desk surface, a telephone and two chairs. So not many came down here.
Mostly, it was staff people. Taking turns at the service center -- looking for new jobs -- and fielding calls from constituents to patiently explain why their member of Congress can't help them anymore.
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