By the time the last votes rolled around Wednesday evening in the House of Representatives, lawmakers who’d participated in all-night markups were, well, dragging.
It was clear in the ways they moved throughout the Capitol: Some were walking and talking a little slower than usual, or were blinking through bloodshot eyes; others were quick to leave the Capitol after late-afternoon votes Wednesday, hoping to catch up on sleep.
“You’re telling me I look like I haven’t shaved or something?” Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher asked, pointing to his 5 o’clock-plus shadow. “You can tell the real men, because the real men look like they haven’t shaved today. The wussies, they don’t have to shave every day.”
About a hundred lawmakers spent all night in their respective committees’ markup marathons, reviewing reconciliation bills line by line and voting on amendment after amendment. The Energy and Commerce Committee’s 26-hour session fell just half-an-hour short of breaking its 2017 markup record, and Ways and Means members clocked in at over 17 hours.
Some lawmakers like Ways and Means member Rep. David Kustoff, a Republican, relish the marathons that come along with reconciliation.
“It is pretty exciting. If you’re on this committee, you only get to do this every so many years, right?” Kustoff said.
But lawmakers are also mere humans, who usually require time to recharge before returning to the fray of national politics.
“I was exhausted, so I had to think back to my fraternity days back a long time ago, the last time I ever thought I stayed up all night,” Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan told NOTUS, adding he was happy with the work the Ways and Means Committee accomplished. “I’m optimistic. I think that was a big deal to get done.”
The grueling workweek’s toll on lawmakers didn’t escape the general public’s attention. Early Wednesday morning, at least two lawmakers who appeared to have dozed off at hearings were caught on camera, and then they started making the rounds on social media — the prospect of which provided enough motivation to keep other lawmakers awake.
“You gotta keep telling yourself: Don’t fall asleep. You might’ve seen the pictures of a couple of us. … I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, I’d never do that to somebody, taking a picture of somebody falling asleep in committee,” Rep. Bob Latta said. “It can happen to anybody.”
He wasn’t the only one who celebrated avoiding the internet’s scrutiny.
“The good news is, I never went to sleep. My picture is not on the internet, which, a whole bunch of other people, as they nodded off. It’s so unfair,” Rep. Cliff Bentz told NOTUS.
One of the lawmakers who trended on X early Wednesday for being pictured with her eyes closed during Energy and Commerce’s markup, Rep. Debbie Dingell, was quick to tell NOTUS when asked about it: “I didn’t fall asleep.”
“I didn’t drink Diet Coke last night. Well, first of all, I was thinking about, ‘How do I get health care for everybody?’ And then … I should have had more Diet Coke. But it really was, I mean, I work hard. It’s been a long day,” Dingell, a Democrat, told NOTUS. “I’d invite anybody to keep up with me on a weekend or on a normal day.”
Enter caffeine, which many lawmakers relied on to rally. Several lawmakers credited Celsius, the energy drink that’s become the unofficial fuel of the legislative branch, with helping them fight off the Sandman.
However, no lawmaker asked by NOTUS reported having as many as Bentz, who told NOTUS he drank four cans of the stuff, which would amount to around 800 milligrams of caffeine — twice the daily recommended amount for healthy adults.
Bentz said he felt fine. But a couple of lawmakers described disastrous consequences from their caffeine consumption.
“I made the mistake of taking a little sip of coffee before I left here, and I said, ‘Oh, I’m gonna sleep. I’m so exhausted.’ I laid down … and by 12 o’clock, my body was vibrating,” Rep. John Larson, a Democrat, told NOTUS, adding that his colleague helped him stay alert throughout the overnight markup. “I had Mike Thompson next to me, who was able to give me a nudge every now and then.”
Republican Rep. David Schweikert said his poorly timed caffeine consumption, along with the time difference between D.C. and his home state of Arizona, meant he didn’t get to catch up much on sleep when his Tuesday night bled into his Wednesday workday.
“I probably made the mistake of drinking coffee all the way till the very end,” Schweikert said. “I’m an idiot, and please don’t tell my wife, but the last hit of coffee wasn’t coffee, it was matcha. You know, the ground-up green tea. I probably should have read the label before I put this down.”
Rep. Blake Moore, who had to be nudged awake by his colleague to vote at around 5 a.m. during the Ways and Means markup, pointed to two reasons for why he couldn’t power through: the medicine he’s taking for a shoulder injury and the pasta staffers ordered for the committee’s lawmakers Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Thompson, who Larson credited for his wakefulness, said he managed off of just “one cup of coffee, and that was good enough.” He added that “the terrible policy in that bill was enough to make anybody who cares stay awake.”
Amazingly, some lawmakers reported successfully staying up all night without relying on caffeine. Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle said he did it “the old-fashioned way — no performance-enhancing drugs.”
“I’m thoroughly exhausted at the moment, and feel like I’m gonna fall asleep at any moment,” Boyle told NOTUS as he walked onto the floor to vote.
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Emily Kennard is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Taylor Giorno and John T. Seward contributed reporting.