Stuck, Stuck, Stuck, Stuck: Maya Kornberg on Congress as a Four-Alarm Fire
Keen On America
Why Committees and Processes Matter
Maya defends studying committees and legislative process as essential to understanding how to fix Congress's dysfunctions.
"The House hasn't reorganized committee jurisdictions since the early 70s—before the internet existed." — Maya Kornberg
America is stuck stuck stuck stuck. Almost exactly a year ago, I interviewed the Atlantic's Yoni Applebaum about Stuck, his influential critique of the housing crisis. Now we have another Stuck—this one by Maya Kornberg, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Only her subtitle is about Congress, not housing: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress.
This is, Kornberg argues, one of the toughest times in modern American history to sit in Congress. Members are forced to spend most of their time making fundraising calls. They face record-high threats against themselves and their families. And the media incentivizes spectacle over policymaking—what she describes as "Kings and Prophets"—where members have the power of the megaphone but not the power to drive legislation.
One fact captures Congressional stuckness: The House hasn't reorganized its committee jurisdictions since the early 1970s—before the internet existed. Half the Senate, then, questioned Mark Zuckerberg because no single committee is responsible for tech. Not even mad libertarians like Elon Musk could make that one up.
Kornberg recently ran for New York City Council in Park Slope and, as a friend of Israel, discovered firsthand how media latches onto the most salacious angle. That said, she's not giving up on Congress. Kornberg is hopeful that a fresh wave of reformers, like the Watergate babies of '74 or the class of 2018, can unstick it. But she is, nonetheless, clear-eyed about what we're facing: a four-alarm fire for our democracy.
Five Takeaways
● This Is the Hardest Moment in Modern History to Be in Congress: Members face astronomical campaign costs, record-high threats and violence against themselves and their families, and a leadership-driven system that has stripped rank-and-file members of real power to drive legislation.
● Money, Media, and Violence Keep Congress Stuck: Members spend every mealtime making fundraising calls. They pay "dues" to the party just to get on good committees. Media incentivizes spectacle over policymaking. And threats against members have risen year after year.
● Congress Hasn't Reorganized Since Before the Internet: The House hasn't reorganized committee jurisdictions since the early 1970s. Half the Senate questions Mark Zuckerberg because no single committee is responsible for tech. When everyone's responsible, no one is.
● More Chairmen Named Mike Than Women Committee Leaders: The pay-to-play system in Congress disadvantages women, communities of color, working-class Americans, and young Americans—anyone who faces greater barriers to fundraising faces greater barriers to power.
● Waves of Reformers Can Unstick Congress: The Watergate babies of '74, the Republican Revolution of '94, the class of 2018—frustrated reformers have reshaped Congress before. The midterms could bring another wave, if the public frustration is deep enough.
About the Guest
Maya Kornberg is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. She holds a PhD from Oxford and is the author of Inside Congressional Committees. She recently ran for New York City Council in Brooklyn's Park Slope.
References
Books mentioned:
● Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress by Maya Kornberg — her new book on why Congress is stuck and how to unstick it.
● Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity by Yoni Applebaum — on the housing crisis, interviewed on this show a year ago.
● Why Nothing Works by Marc Dunkelman — on who killed progress and how to bring it back.
People mentioned:
● Henry Waxman served four decades in Congress and passed landmark health and environmental legislation even under Reagan.
● Lauren Underwood came to Congress in 2018 and co-founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus after losing a friend who died after childbirth.
● Hélène Landemore is a Yale political theorist who advocates for citizen assemblies as an alternative to representative democracy.
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.
Chapters:
- (00:00) - Introduction: America is stuck
- (02:04) - Why everyone woke up to this problem at once
- (03:49) - Why study Congress? Is it boring?
- (06:33) - Money, media, and violence
- (07:11) - Congressional chameleons: Waxman, Underwood, Andy Kim
- (10:24) - Is this bipartisan?
- (12:37) - The crummiest job in Washington
- (15:53) - Money: 'I spend every mealtime making fundraising calls'
- (17:29) - Should Congress get a pay raise?
- (19:53) - Media and the Gaza third rail
- (23:14) - Kings and Prophets: Spectacle over policy
- (25:32) - Can Congress stand up to Trump?
- (27:43) - Congress is woefully unprepared to regulate tech
- (31:54) - Gerontocracy: More Mikes than women
- (37:34) - Can citiz...
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