Over the last five years, Uncle Sam has paid out over $1.2 million to pay operators who man the Capitol’s senators-only elevators. The longer the elevator operator pushes the right buttons, the more money they will rake in. The longest tenured elevator operator has seen a salary increase each of the last five years. That operator has earned over $210,000 over those five years, giving them an average salary of around $42,000 a year.