Marcus Towns: Member services director, House Appropriations Committee Republicans

Advancing any legislation with a slim Republican majority is a challenge, but navigating the variety of GOP viewpoints while trying to advance appropriations bills adds a new layer of difficulty.

For Marcus Towns, the member services director for the House Appropriations Committee, it helps to be a people person.

“It’s a very personality-driven job,” Towns said. “My main focus is getting things out of committee and working with our staff to do that.”

Towns ensures members’ opinions are heard and considered — his job essentially is to keep all the committee Republicans happy enough to vote for all 12 appropriations bills.

“It can be little things like we set up food during markups and just make sure that they’re fed and all happy and not super angry about these long days, because they’re here for 12 to 16 hours back-to-back days sometimes,” Towns said.

In dealing with dueling Republican factions, Towns said it helps to remind himself that everyone is human.

“At the end of the day, it’s dealing with other peoples’ parents and grandparents. So sometimes they’re in a bad mood, but it might not be related to anything that’s work-related,” Towns said. “Are they going to be team players that day? A lot of times, sometimes people just need a break.”

Towns started his political career working on state and federal campaigns in Illinois, before relocating to D.C. for what he thought would be a short-term internship with the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I came here and didn’t think I was going to last, and now I’ve been here for five years,” Towns said.

Prior to joining the Appropriations Committee, Towns worked as member services director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is where he said he learned the importance of consensus building.

“You have to give people wins everywhere, and so one of the main goals [of then-Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas)] was, ‘I want every one of my members to have a bill out of committee,’” Towns said. “That’s how I learned to do this job.”