ROA Executive Director Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Jeff Phillips and Deputy Legislation Director Susan Lukas are published in The Hill as opinion contributors.

As the 115th Congress draws to close, Capitol Hill assumes the tranquility associated with what we in the military call “the cessation of hostilities.”

Few constituents troop to the offices of House and Senate members, fewer cars course the roads of power, and the hearings pretty much dry up.  

Beneath the epidermal layer of peace (and quiet), staffers and other insiders are anthill busy speculating about which of them will stay, which will go, and where the goers will go.

“Did you hear (fill in the blank) went to a lobbying firm?” Or a nonprofit organization. Or another congressional office. Or, so-and-so is talking with the Office of Presidential Personnel about a place in the administration (a conversation whose duration may outlast those associated with peaceful coexistence between certain Middle Eastern nations).

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