Veteran lawmakers complain about the declining role of the US Congress in the political process

American voters routinely give Congress the lowest approval ratings and view this institution as unaccountable and ineffective, and some members of Congress appear to agree with this view.

An almost record number (68 MPs) have announced that they will not run for re-election in the current session, some of whom aspire to higher positions, while others are leaving public service altogether.

Democratic Senator Peter Welch (from Vermont) said sarcastically: “Retired members are looking for a better life.”

Lawmakers and voters alike have long complained that Congress has become an environment in which the legislative process has taken a backseat to fundraising, media appearances and partisan battles.

Experts say these trends are increasing so dramatically that the establishment is alienating politically minded candidates who actually want to pass laws.

Ruth Rubin, an expert on American politics at the University of Chicago, said: “The point is that there are no ordinary Americans rushing to join Congress, but instead there is a very small minority of people who are willing to do this complex, but important, legislative work.”

Whether they stay or leave, many veteran lawmakers agree that Congress is “not at all” what it was when she started in 2013.

Increased defects

The Christian Science Monitor conducted interviews with retired lawmakers and a number of others who served in Congress for more than 10 years. Most of them said that their work was satisfactory, but they saw increasing flaws.

They added that the constant pressure to collect donations is increasing, expressing their fear for their safety more than ever.

They stressed that working with other parties in Congress has become almost impossible.

Many lawmakers also say that Congress has ceded more of its power to the executive branch, which is a particular concern for the party not in power.

Democratic Senator Peter Welch said, “This institution is not performing the mission assigned to it, and we all know that.”

Disabled parties

Republicans share this opinion, as Nebraska Representative Don Bacon described the political parties in Congress as “broken.”

Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, who is retiring after 45 years in the House — including more than two decades in leadership positions — laments the loss of bipartisanship and says he is “deeply concerned” that Congress is not performing its duties under the Constitution.

In addition, polls have shown that most people think Congress might work better with term limits for members, but some experts say the fact that so many are leaving early highlights how challenges in Congress – including the difficulty of passing policies and the institution’s subordination to the president – mean that members who came to get things done are becoming increasingly frustrated.

Professor of Political Science at American University, Dr. David Parker, said that Congress has increasingly become reserved for those “who care more about making political gains on social media or news channels, than with people who want to try to conclude agreements between the two parties,” adding: “It is no longer designed for that purpose now.”

Dwindling cooperation

Retired Democratic Representative Julia Brownlee first entered politics when she ran for the local board of education in California to advocate for students like her daughter, who has difficulty reading. After arriving in Congress in 2013, she used her position on the Veterans Affairs Committee to help pass bills, such as a bill expanding travel reimbursements for veterans seeking medical care, with support from Republicans. She remains a member of that committee, but cooperation has waned.

“There does not seem to be a common ground on which to work,” she said in a call from her office in the Southern California constituency.

Studies show that Democrats in Congress have become more liberal since the 1970s, while Republicans have become more conservative.

A realignment has occurred over the decades, with many conservative Democrats from the South switching to Republicans, and liberal Republicans from the Northeast leaving the GOP, and partisan gerrymandering, when districts are redrawn to favor a particular party or candidate, has further weakened the center.

For his part, Republican Representative Michael McCaul (from Texas), honorary chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that when he joined the House of Representatives, “the House was more respectful and cooperative than 22 years ago.”

The retired MP added that at that time, “working with the other party was not a bad thing.”

The lack of consensus between the two parties had an impact, as the 118th Congress, which ran from 2023 to 2025, passed the fewest bills since the Civil War.

Withdrawal wave

The influence of US President Donald Trump accelerated the wave of withdrawal of moderate Republican members.

Many of them, like Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), belong to a small group of Republicans who have publicly criticized Trump and his administration.

Most of the 10 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump will leave in 2021.

Only one of them, Representative David Valadao (from California), is running for re-election, while the other, Representative Dan Newhouse from Washington State, intends to retire.

Dr. Parker said that the leadership of the House and Senate have become fully aligned with the president, “so if you are a member who really wants to formulate policies and try to get things done, you will not actually get many opportunities to do that.”

Republican Representative, Michael McCaul, spent more than two decades in the House of Representatives after working in the field of counter-terrorism in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Regarding his time as a member of Congress, he said during a phone call that one of the most important sources of frustration was the hard work to pass matters in the House of Representatives, where he then saw that they did not reach any result in the Senate.

McCall has learned that “if you want to pass something, you have to tie it to a bill that has to pass,” such as appropriations bills, he said. About the Christian Science Monitor

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Normal procedures

A 2024 study by researchers at Penn State and Colorado State Universities found that increasing polarization in Congress leads to a decrease in the number of bills that pass, but those that do pass are often broader in scope.

The study showed that partisanship and the small majority in the House of Representatives and Senate mean that it is often more effective for leadership to include its priorities in special bills that need fewer votes to pass, or in bills that must be passed, such as annual funding packages.

In this context, Kevin Kosar, a professor at the American Enterprise Institute, said: “Congress has moved further and further away from following normal procedures for enacting laws.” Kosar cites, as an example, the recent recent government shutdowns, when lawmakers do not agree on annual funding, noting that the process of a member submitting an independent bill that passes through a committee and is voted on has become rare.

Legislators:

. Congress has ceded more of its powers to the executive branch, which constitutes a source of concern for the party that is not in power.

. Experts believe that Congress has begun to alienate politically interested candidates who actually want to pass laws.