What’s really wrong with Congress?

It’s no secret that most Americans believe Congress is broken. They think Congress is not working because it does not want to work. Conventional wisdom holds that the blame for any democratic dysfunction lies primarily with current occupants of Capitol Hill. The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) offers an alternative perspective. Congress may not be working well because it does not currently have the capacity to work well.

In campaign ads, television shows, movies and the news, Congress is portrayed as lavish, profligate and corrupt, but this is not the case. The reality is that most of the 541 senators, representatives, and delegates in Congress are honorable, dedicated individuals trying to represent their constituents and the country as best they can. However, the processes, rules, practices and external forces that influence our democracy have changed in ways that are making it very difficult for legislators to effectively fulfill their mission.

{mosads}Within this context, and because there is an urgent need to quantify and correct these corrosive effects in the Congress, CMF conducted a survey of senior staff in U.S. senators’ and representatives’ offices to understand their perceptions of certain aspects of congressional performance.

These staffers are on the front lines of democracy in both Washington, D.C., and back home in congressional districts. Their opinions are key to understanding and assessing congressional performance. Two basic questions were posed. “In your opinion, how important are the following for the effective functioning of your chamber?” And, “How satisfied are you with your chamber’s performance in the following?” Among the findings: 

• 83 percent of congressional senior staff surveyed agree that it is very important to have adequate staff knowledge, skills and abilities in order to support senators’ and representatives’ official duties, only 15 percent are very satisfied—a gap of 68 percentage points.
• While 67 percent of staff surveyed believe it is very important for members to have adequate time and resources to consider and deliberate policy and legislation, only 6 percent are very satisfied with the amount of time they actually have to deliberate legislation—a gap of 61 percentage points.

While these findings alone are disturbing, they must also be viewed in the context of the current state of politics and democracy. Democracy is under strain, in part due to a range of leadership decisions over the past few decades about how Congress operates. Much of the communication and decision-making in Congress has been consolidated within party leadership, which has diminished the voices of rank-and-file members and the constituents they represent.

It has also increased political polarization.  Congress is receiving unprecedented amounts of information and outside pressure while the capacity of congressional staffs has declined. With Congress not functioning as expected, the trust deficit between citizens and legislators is growing, demonstrated in part by historically low congressional approval ratings. We are also experiencing population growth and unprecedented social, economic, technological and global change.

All of this is taxing our democracy, and much of it is occurring without regard to the fundamental principles at the core of our civic activity, such as political equality; representation of, and consent by, the people; informed deliberation; and distributed and limited power.

We may be beyond a tipping point where there are just too many people, too much communication, too much pressure, and too many crises for senators and representatives to manage without some serious rethinking of congressional operations and capacity.

The cornerstone institution of our democracy must be equipped to respond to the challenges we face. Congress must adapt in the face of social transformation so it can effectively govern and lead.

Kathy Goldschmidt is Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Congressional Management Foundation, and the principal author of “State of the Congress: Staff Perspectives on Institutional Capacity in the House and Senate.”

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.