Survey of Senior Staffers Reveals That Both Houses Agree Congress Does Not Currently Have the Capacity to Perform At Its Highest Level
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August 8, 2017 – A new survey of senior congressional staff raises questions as to whether the Congress has the resources and capacity to meet the challenges facing the nation. The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) released a report today that captures senior staff perspectives on the functioning of Congress, finding that Congress, tasked with addressing some of our society's greatest challenges, is struggling to perform its integral role in American democracy. The research in State of the Congress: Staff Perspectives on Institutional Capacity in the House and Senate, offers new insight into the roots of current congressional dysfunction and paths toward pragmatic reforms to strengthen the institution.
The key findings of the research are based on survey questions posed to senior congressional staff between August and October 2016. Two basic questions were posed. "In your opinion, how important are the following for the effective functioning of your chamber?" And, "How satisfied are you with your chamber's performance in the following?" The report uses gap analysis to assess priority, finding:
- 83 percent of Congressional senior staff surveyed agree that it is very important to have adequate staff knowledge, skills and abilities in order to support Members' official duties, only 15 percent are very satisfied with staff—a gap of 68 percentage points.
- While 67 percent of Congressional senior staff surveyed believe it is important members have adequate time and resources to consider and deliberate policy and legislation, only 6 percent are very satisfied with the amount of time they actually have to deliberate legislation—a gap of 61 percentage points.
"We may be beyond a tipping point where there are just too many people, too much communication, too much pressure, and too many crises for Senators and Representatives to manage without some serious rethinking of congressional operations and capacity," wrote Kathy Goldschmidt, author of the report. "The cornerstone institution of our democracy must be equipped to respond to the challenges we face. Congress must adapt in the face of social transformation so it can effectively govern and lead."
A PDF of State of the Congress: Staff Perspectives on Institutional Capacity in the House and Senate is available at http://CongressFoundation.org/SOTC
The findings include:
- Congress needs to improve staff knowledge, skills and abilities. Both Congress and the public should be concerned that senior congressional staffers do not feel their human resources are adequate to support Senators' and Representatives' official duties.
- Senators and Representatives lack the necessary time and resources to understand, consider and deliberate public policy and legislation. In the past few decades, under both parties, House and Senate leadership have either implemented strategies or allowed conditions to evolve that diminish the ability of individual Senators and Representatives to deeply consider and influence public policy.
- Congress needs to improve Member and staff access to high quality, nonpartisan policy expertise within the Legislative Branch. Congress has less nonpartisan internal policy capacity than it used to. Congress seems to have reached a point where senior staffers are concerned whether the Legislative Branch has the intellectual infrastructure to study, deliberate and decide serious questions of public policy.
- Congress needs to improve its technological infrastructure. Technology in Congress has not kept pace with the expectations of Members, staffers and citizens. Many of the challenges to improving technology lie in tradition, procedure, rules, budgeting practices, cybersecurity, and politics. Congress is under extraordinary simultaneous pressures to create the most transparent institution in the world while being subjected to unprecedented hacking attempts and increasing demands from constituents.
- Congress should re-examine its capacity to perform its role in democracy. Senior staffers are fairly comfortable that Members and staff understand their role in democracy, but they question whether their chamber has the resources it needs to perform its role.
The findings are based on a survey of more than one hundred senior congressional staffers, including Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Legislative Directors, Communications Directors, District Directors (House), and State Directors (Senate). These are the people who stand on the frontlines of democracy, so their experiences are essential in gaining an understanding of congressional performance.
This research was funded by a one-year grant from the Democracy Fund, in collaboration with Voice of the People, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and Lorelei Kelly.
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About the Congressional Management Foundation
The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit whose mission is to build trust and effectiveness in Congress. Since 1977 CMF has worked internally with Member, committee, leadership, and institutional offices in the House and Senate to identify and disseminate best practices for management, workplace environment, communications, and constituent services. CMF also is the leading researcher and trainer on citizen engagement, educating thousands of individuals and facilitating better relationships with Congress. Learn more about our work
