Moh Sharma, Director of member services, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
One staffer described Moh Sharma as “the Leslie Knope of Capitol Hill” because “if anyone needs anything, she’s there.”
Sharma chuckled at that description — ”I don’t know about Leslie Knope” — but the description gets at the core of her job.
As director of member services for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Sharma helps Democratic member offices — 212 of them — advance their priorities. A big part of that job, Sharma said, is answering questions and being a resource for any roadblocks offices may run into.
She also keeps offices abreast of other happenings in Washington by forwarding daily White House and Senate schedules and statements of administration policy.
“Whatever questions people have I will try to help them with,” Sharma said in an interview. “If they need something, [I’ll] work with our team to get it for them. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll try to find someone who does have the answer.”
To Sharma — a veteran on Capitol Hill who landed her first congressional gig in 2011 — staffers are essential to helping Congress run. While “the member’s name is on the door,” she said, the job of a staffer is “to help support their mission or goals.”
“For the country to function properly, it can’t just be the members by themselves. You need the staff,” Sharma said.
“Every job is important,” she added, listing off a number of positions on Capitol Hill. “Everyone’s important because the office doesn’t function properly if someone was missing or if multiple people are missing.”
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