Lee Hamilton Comments on Congress
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 14 years ago -Drawing upon his 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Lee Hamilton posts a bi-weekly column on Congress -- sometimes explaining why Congress works the way it does or explaining its impact, other times suggesting ways Congress could be improved or reformed.
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Episodes
Whatever Their Tone, We Need Town Hall Meetings
April 29, 2010 14:49The strident rhetoric and heated tone of recent congressional town-hall meetings has some people wondering whether they're getting out of hand. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton says this is nothing new, and that "Whatever Their Tone, We Need Town Hall Meetings." Years ago, when I was still in Congress, I pulled up one day to address a public meeting in a remote and very rural part of Indiana. The sheriff, a friend of mine, met me outside the small volunteer fire house where I was to speak. "T...
It's Time to Govern the Flow of Political Money
April 27, 2010 13:19The amount of money flowing through the system for congressional campaigns and lobbying has grown so enormous that it threatens Congress' ability to do its job right. This is why, says former Congressman Lee Hamilton, "It's Time To Govern The Flow Of Political Money." There was a time when I believed that the best way to curtail the impact of money flowing into our political system was to monitor it. Make sure that campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures were reported quickly and ac...
You, Too, Should Care About What's Happening To Journalism
April 21, 2010 19:29The troubles besetting journalism are of great concern to politicians and journalists who care about the media's role in a representative democracy. But former Congressman Lee Hamilton says that "You, Too, Should Care About What's Happening to Journalism." A central aspect of the art of politics in Washington is getting information to the American people. Determining what the White House, Congress and the people will focus on — and, just as important, what the content of debate will be — pr...
Members of Congress Need to Travel
April 14, 2010 20:09The recent brouhaha over congressional plans to buy new military jets for official travel has brought a new round of public criticism of congressional "junkets." Former Congressman Lee Hamilton says, on the contrary: "Members of Congress Need to Travel." Spooked by the public outcry, the House of Representatives has cancelled its order for four new military jet aircraft that would have been used occasionally to ferry members of Congress around the world. Even so, you shouldn't expect for a m...
Congrees Needs a Five-Day Work Week
April 06, 2010 13:13Making Congress more effective does not necessarily require complicated reforms. In fact, a simple change would go a long way: "Congress Needs A Five-Day Work Week," suggests former Congressman Lee Hamilton. Looking at ways to make Congress a stronger, more effective institution, it's easy for reformers to get dispirited by the sheer complexity of the task. How do you even begin to fix the budget process, or reduce the hold of campaign money on members' attention, or change the lopsided powe...
The Sotomayor Hearings Were Hardly Oversight
March 24, 2010 19:14One of Congress's most important oversight roles is thoroughly to examine presidential nominees who will be making U.S. policy. This includes Supreme Court nominees, and on this score, says former Congressman Lee Hamilton, "The Sotomayor Hearings Were Hardly 'Oversight.'" Over four days of hearings into the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked her 583 questions. Yet when they were done, we knew little more of importance...
The Private Lives of Public Officials
March 22, 2010 18:40Looking at recent revelations about the private misconduct of a series of public officials, you might ask what the public response ought to be. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton says that when it comes to the private lives of public officials, that decision is up to each of us individually. As happens every so often, we have recently been through a spate of embarrassing reports about the lives of prominent public officials. Adulterous affairs by Nevada Senator John Ensign, South Carolina Gover...
Congress Needs To Embrace Transparency
March 12, 2010 16:46Secrecy in government breeds cynicism. That is why, former Congressman Lee Hamilton says, "Congress Needs to Embrace Transparency." The word "transparency" has been much in vogue on Capitol Hill lately. The stimulus package contained unprecedented requirements for tracking where and how federal dollars are spent. Some members of Congress have openly been pushing the National Security Agency to account for its surveillance of U.S. citizens' emails. President Obama's plans for revamping financ...
Why Congress Needs Institutionalists
March 09, 2010 15:20In these politicized times, it's getting harder to find members of Congress who put the interests of the institution they serve first Former Congressman Lee Hamilton says this is troubling, and explains "Why Congress Needs Institutionalists." It takes all kinds of people to make the U.S. Congress work. The ambitious and the laid-back, loners and consensus-builders, partisans and aisle-crossers — all have their place. In these highly politicized times, though, there's one type who is particul...
Is Fixing Congressional Procedure A Lost Cause?
March 03, 2010 20:59Changes in how Congress operates have made it a less open, fair and democratic institution. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton worries that it may now be too late to change, and wonders, "Is Fixing Congressional Procedure A Lost Cause?" Four years ago, the Democratic minority on the Rules Committee of the U.S. House — the body that oversees legislative process for that side of the Capitol — issued a lengthy report excoriating the Republican majority for abandoning "procedural fairness" and "dem...
What It Means To Be A Representative
February 23, 2010 14:24One of the hardest jobs of an elected representative is learning how to represent a diverse constituency. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton explains "What It Means To Be A Representative." Compared to what it looked like a couple of decades ago, Congress today is a far more representative body. It's true that, as Congressional Quarterly recently pointed out, the House and Senate are still "populated mainly by wealthy white men with advanced degrees and backgrounds in law and business." Yet Cap...
In Congress, Change Is A Constant
February 19, 2010 17:47Congress may not seem to change much from year to year, but in fact it is an evolving institution, and not always for the better, says former Congressman Lee Hamilton. We think of Congress as immutable, a steadfast presence in American life since its first session in 1789. The inspiration we draw from the dome of the Capitol, the pull of a congressional hearing we know will change the course of history, the lofty statements on the floor of the House or Senate — these were as much a part of o...
Can Congress Cope With The Communications Age?
February 03, 2010 19:22The communications revolution has presented Congress with an ironic problem: how to ensure that messages to and from constituents get heard. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton wonders, "Can Congress Cope With The Communications Age?" When I first came to Congress in the 1960s, dialogue between members of Congress and their constituents was straightforward. Every so often, a lawmaker would get interviewed on radio or television. Many sent monthly newsletters to the folks back home. They responde...
Even In An Economic Crisis, Follow The Money
April 30, 2009 13:43Recently, Newsweek looked at Federal Election Commission records and made an intriguing discovery. The political action committees of five major recipients of federal bank bailout money, it found, made some $85,000 in campaign contributions in January and February, mostly to members of Congress sitting on the committees that oversee their industry. Quite naturally, the magazine uncovered some squeamishness about the notion that taxpayer dollars meant to resolve the credit crisis are instead...
Is Congress Up To The Task Before It?
April 23, 2009 16:33I arrived in Congress in 1965, just as President Lyndon Johnson's transformation of the U.S. government was getting under way. It was an extraordinary time, as LBJ sent up to Capitol Hill his proposals for Medicare, Medicaid, aid to elementary and secondary education, the Voting Rights Act, and a host of other bills that reshaped Washington and its place in the nation's life. The United States was a different country by the time Congress finished. We are at a juncture that may be as far-rea...
Conference Committees Fade, Democracy Suffers
April 21, 2009 15:22In the official record, you'll find that the economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress was drawn up by a conference committee — a bipartisan group of House members and Senators who sat down together to wrangle over its fine print. In truth, nothing like this took place. To be sure, a conference committee met, as is supposed to happen when legislation passed by the House differs from the version passed by the Senate. But it was more for show than for actual debate and deliberation...
Effective Oversight Requires Effective Press
February 17, 2009 15:08These are extraordinary political and economic times, and even from a distance you can sense the animation on Capitol Hill as Congress debates President Obama's stimulus package, weighs his executive-branch appointments, and responds to his various initiatives. You can feel the same intensity in the Washington press corps, as it works to keep a rapt public briefed on the ins and outs of the capital's daily workings. Yet as capable a job as it's doing right now, we should all be worried about...
In Congress, First Impressions Matter
February 03, 2009 19:36The start of a new Congress is a time of hope for great accomplishments. For new members, though, it is also when they lay the groundwork for their careers on Capitol Hill. New members face a lot of difficult decisions early on, and their political reputations — both in Washington and at home — will be shaped by how they make them. This is partly because first impressions linger on Capitol Hill. Will a new member be a legislator or a limelight-seeking showboater? Will he or she focus on work...
Good Communication Anchors Our Democracy
January 22, 2009 14:38Shortly before the turn of the year, I got a look at some polling numbers that brought me up short. They suggest that our representative democracy has a great deal of work to do. Every year, the Center on Congress at Indiana University polls about a thousand people across the country to gauge their attitudes toward, and experiences with, members of Congress. Our most recent survey looked into the relationship between constituents and their representatives. It found a few encouraging signs: ...
Congress Needs Proper Leadership
January 15, 2009 15:56As Congress moves beyond last November's elections and turns its attention to governing, it has to perform one of the toughest pivots in American politics. Governing is much more difficult than campaigning. After going at it hammer and tongs in congressional races, Democrats and Republicans now have a branch of government to run and policy to produce. Switching priorities to put the country and the institution of Congress ahead of politics can be a stretch for members. The key to whether the...
Whoever Is President, An Administration Needs Oversight
December 08, 2008 19:12I'm as interested as the next person in all the excitement about how Washington will work with Barack Obama in the White House, but there's an important question that's been missing. It has to do not so much with the new President as with the new Congress, and it should be high on every attentive citizen's list of concerns: Will Congress live up to its responsibility to exercise robust oversight over the new administration? This is especially important given the Democratic label that Preside...
Congress, Too, Can Set The Agenda
December 05, 2008 18:32Once he is sworn in on January 20, our new president will command all eyes. After a long campaign in which he and his rival traded policy prescriptions and accusations about their respective flaws, the country will be anxious to see the White House's agenda. Congress, it seems safe to say, will be an afterthought, its views given weight only insofar as they might hinder or abet the president's plans. And really, why should they matter? The 435 House members and 35 senators who ran in Novembe...
The Decision To Go To War
December 02, 2008 16:40As Congress struggled to stave off financial meltdown recently, it was hard to imagine that it could ever face a more serious issue. Yet from time to time it does: when it ponders whether or not to send young Americans to war. Watching the gyrations on Capitol Hill over the economic bailout, I couldn't help but reflect that while there was great uncertainty about how Congress would respond to the economic crisis — Would it side with the White House plan? Would it modify the plan or try to co...
The Ten Commandments of Citizenship
November 24, 2008 20:05This presidential election, if you believe the polls and the rhetoric, is about change in Washington. Both candidates promise it, while voters clamor for it. It is the cause of the moment. Yet I have news for you: Change in Washington won't happen, and certainly can't be sustained, without change in the country at large. For the point is not to overthrow the system, it's to make it function properly. Government does not fix itself. Only a citizenry that is engaged in our democracy to an exte...
Why Ethics Should Matter to Congress
November 20, 2008 16:31Congress will never regain the faith of ordinary Americans until members of Congress win their trust. This appears to be a long way off. I see no other way to read the results of a recent poll by the Center on Congress at Indiana University. When it asked 1,000 people whether members of Congress are “honest people of good character,” a rather stunning 42 percent said that most are not. Asked to grade Congress on holding its members to high ethical standards, 75 percent gave it either a D or...