Contemporary Dynamics in Congress

Order Instructions

This week, we begin our read of our next book in the course, Congress Overwhelmed: The Decline in Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform. You are also asked to watch a panel talk about the key ideas in the book.

As we step into reading the book, please take a moment to consider the book’s key argument — that the capacity and effectiveness off Congress has especially declined in recent times — and home in on the arguments made in Chapters 1-4 of the book.

1. What facts, statistics, or arguments in Chapters 1-4 stand out to you as important, and why?

2. Please do a little outside research on earlier U.S. Congresses (for ease, let’s consider the 20th century forward). What is one were where you would say Congress was more productive and/or effective, and why? What is one era in which Congress was less productive and/or effective, and why?