The temptation of executive authority
The steady decline in Congress’s institutional capability and performance has reinforced the negative effects of polarization. A recent article by Lee Drutman and Kevin Kosar notes that “legislative support agencies, which supply Congress with expertise and nonpartisan analysis, have atrophied. Since 1995, staffing at the Congressional Research Service and Government Accountability Office has declined 20 and 31 percent, respectively.”
A project cosponsored by New America and R Street Institute was launched in spring 2016 to address the decline in Congress’s institutional capability. Entitled the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, its website states that “the impetus for establishing the group is the widespread perception that Congress is dysfunctional,” adding that the objectives of the group are twofold: “[t]o create an enduring, bipartisan space to assess the capacity of Congress to perform its constitutional duties; and [t]o collaborate on ideas for improving the legislative branch’s performance in our separation of powers system.”
