The Underfunded Broken Branch of Governmen

In this episode, the Friends of Publius discuss Congress and the reasons why it is the most ineffective branch of government.   This question is a revised version of Unit 4, Question 1 of the Center for Civic Education’s We the People curriculum. 

In 2006, Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann wrote the book “The Broken Branch” about Congress.  They followed that up six years later with “Its Even Worse Than It Looks” arguing that Congress is not only broken but it may be permanently disabled.  To what extent do you agree with Mann and Ornstein?  Why?

*If indeed Mann and Ornstein are right about Congress, what reforms/changes need to be made both in the Constitution and statutorily to fix this broken branch?

*Kevin Kosar, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute argues that a major problem facing our constitutional system of government is that “Congress has been doing government on the cheap for decades….and we get what we pay for.”  Do you agree with Kosar’s position?