Steve Scalise

WASHINGTON – After nearly a decade as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s chief of staff, Megan Bel Miller is stepping down to start her own business.

“I call her the ‘go getter’ because no matter what the problem is to solve, Megan just finds a way to get it done,” Scalise said during a speech Tuesday evening.

Remembering back to June 2017, when he was shot and nearly died, Scalise said: “I came to rely on Megan in ways that none of us could have imagined. Jennifer and I will always be grateful for how she helped my family and our team make it through that challenging time.”

Miller’s 10-year-old son sat beaming proudly as Scalise praised his mother on the House floor. Her seven-year-old daughter and husband, Joel Miller, who is deputy chief of staff for the House Energy & Commerce committee, also received special permission to sit behind Scalise as he spoke.

Miller has run Scalise’s offices in Louisiana and Washington since January 2017. She oversees staffers who help constituents, research issues, and shepherd Scalise’s policy priorities. Scalise said Miller has deep knowledge about Congress’s often complex processes.

Scalise, R-Jefferson, has a separate staff to handle administrative issues for which he is responsible as the majority leader – the second highest ranking leader in the House after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton. Miller also is the Senior Leadership Advisor in the Office of the Majority Leader.

Miller is opening a firm in Washington that will advise companies wanting to do business in Louisiana.

She’ll be replaced as chief of staff by a mentee, Claire Thomas, who had worked for Miller as Scalise’s legislative director.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better leader, boss and mentor than Steve Scalise, and I’m so proud to call Steve and Jennifer my friends,” Miller said. “It’s been an honor to serve alongside Leader Scalise and all of Team Scalise – past and present – as we have tackled the big issues facing our country and secured major wins for southeast Louisiana.”

Except for a three-year stint as a vice president for government and political affairs at an offshore energy advocacy group, the National Ocean Industries Association, Miller has worked for Scalise in several positions since joining his congressional campaign 18 years ago — which is eons compared to how long staffers usually stay on Capitol Hill.

Miller met Scalise in early 2008 and he hired her as northshore field director when the then-state senator ran for Congress.

After that election, Miller was Scalise’s first hire — as his legislative director — and later she became lead policy staffer for his assignment to the House Energy and Commerce committee, handling energy and health issues as well as coastal restoration work and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects. She was promoted to deputy director and coordinated business outreach for the congressman.

She staffed Scalise when he led the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus on Capitol Hill.

Scalise hired her back from the National Ocean Industries Association to become his chief of staff in January 2017.

Miller has been elbows deep in most of the major legislation coming out of Scalise’s office.

One of the most prominent bills with her fingerprints is the RESTORE Act, which became law in July 2012 and dedicates 80% of the fines from the 2010 offshore Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, about $5 billion, to coastal restoration, economic development and tourism promotion for the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico.

She also helped craft language and provisions of instruments that supported offshore energy activities, coastal restoration, and hurricane protection. Scalise said she was largely responsible for the language that increased federal revenue sharing from offshore oil and gas production.

Politics seemed a major part of her growing up.

Cabby’s Restaurant, which was a hub of social and political activity in Tangipahoa Parish, was her family’s restaurant. She bussed tables while her late father, Milton “Buddy” Bel, ran the place, visited with patrons, and bartended.

Buddy Bel was on the school board and city council. When he died in 2020, he had been serving as mayor of Amite for the previous eight years. Miller is the second cousin once removed of Gov. John Bel Edwards.

After graduating Amite High Magnet School in 1999, Miller went to LSU, played in the Tiger Band and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. LSU awarded Miller a Master of Public Administration in 2005.

Miller began her career preparing policy, mostly on economic development issues and post-Katrina recovery efforts, for then Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

Miller moved to Washington in 2006 as an assistant to then-Congressman Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge. She eventually handled his health care portfolio and later became the legislative director for Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District before joining Scalise.