Strengthening and reinvigorating Congress

The United States Congress is a vital institution for pluralistic American governance. Congress is the one body that can represent the broad diversity of the vast American republic and forge complex compromises across competing and overlapping interests and values. In a moment of great challenges facing American political institutions, how can Congress fulfill its role as a co-equal branch of governance? What changes are necessary in order for Congress to measure up to the contemporary challenges facing American political institutions? And what changes are possible in an institution as old and as complex as the U.S. Congress?

On January 9, Brookings co-hosted an event with the American Political Science Association and R Street Institute, featuring members of the Task Force Project on Congressional Reform. The expert panel discussed their report on the challenges Congress faces and the reforms needed to support a transformational legislature.

After the panel, speakers took audience questions.