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Benjamin P. Tomchik

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    Congress

    Make governing great again

    Michael V. Murphy
    Benjamin P. Tomchik
    November 21, 2022
    New members of Congress

    Newly elected members of Congress take a break from orientation to gather for their class photo at the Capitol on Nov. 15.

    Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Murphy is the director of FixUS, the democracy reform advocacy arm of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal policy think tank of which he is also chief of staff. Tomchik is vice president nd deputy chief of staff at FixUS and CRFB

    To the new members of Congress,

    Congratulations on your election. In just two short months, you’ll take your seat in an institution that has guided and embodied the world’s oldest representative democracy and its people since its founding more than two centuries ago. Sadly, the excitement you may feel at this moment isn’t matched by your fellow citizens.

    According to Gallup, only 7 percent of Americans possess a great deal of confidence in Congress. That’s lower than their confidence in the presidency, organized labor, large tech companies and the media. And while none of this is surprising, it should be cause for concern.

    The problem stems from the fact that, for many Americans, the first branch of our democracy seems to have little to do with governing. Instead of working together and passing laws, Congress has become a zero-sum game, defined by gridlock and hyper-partisanship. Add to that the endless campaign cycles, self-imposed crises, and back-and-forth bickering in the media, and it’s easy to see why Americans feel as they do.

    Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

    So, how did it get to this point? And more importantly, as an incoming member of Congress, what can you do about it?

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    governance

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    Big Picture

    To make democracy function again, would you listen to a thousand years of experience?

    Michael V. Murphy
    Benjamin P. Tomchik
    February 11, 2021
    US Capitol
    carterdayne/Getty Images

    Murphy is the director of FixUS, the democracy reform advocacy arm of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal policy think tank. Murphy is also chief of staff for that organization, and Tomchik is deputy chief of staff.

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    leadership
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