Breakdown: Lessons for a Congress in Crisis

by Jeff Bingaman, Norman J. Ornstein (Foreword)

In his thirty-year career representing the citizens of New Mexico in the US Senate, Jeff Bingaman witnessed great things accomplished through the legislative process. He also had a front-row seat for the breakdown of governing norms and the radical increases in polarization and partisanship that now plague what was once called the world's greatest deliberative body. Lessons for a Congress in Crisis traces the development of congressional dysfunction over more than three decades and provides eight case studies that examine how the crisis affects our government's ability to meet major policy challenges. We didn't always have a Senate that failed in its basic public obligations, including catalyzing a robust economy, confronting climate change, improving health care, fixing education, preserving public lands, and avoiding unnecessary wars. We do now.

Presenting insightful analysis of the causes and consequences of the dysfunction in Congress, Breakdown shows how Congress fails at the tasks Americans expect it to perform and, more importantly, how it might begin again to succeed.

248 pages, Hardcover

Published October 15, 2022

About the author

Jesse Francis Bingaman Jr. is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1983 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and he served as Chairman of Committee Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Reviews

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book far exceeded my expectations. Bingaman, an even-tempered moderate during his three decades in the Senate, reflects on some of his chief accomplishments and disappointments. The degree of detail about subjects like the passage of the ACA, the Iraq War vote (Bingaman voted against the AUMF), and public lands regulation is significant, helped by the fact that the author kept detailed diaries of his work. The recommendations for improvement in congressional improvement are rooted in what Bingaman believes to be possible, namely reform of the filibuster (or at least some ability to restrict its application to the budgeting process) and the debt ceiling + efforts by the politicians themselves to avoid signing various partisan "pledges" not to do this or that, not to court the attention of the polarized "advocacy media," etc. All good advice, but public moderation and deliberation isn't good marketing in an age of clickbait-driven extremes.

I had the privilege of interviewing Senator Bingaman. You can listen to that interview here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/work-of...

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman is perhaps one of the most ethical people to serve in Congress, a hard worker with a mind for policy details whose strong Democratic principles didn't prevent him from finding common ground with constituents or elected officials who had different views from his own. His straightforward chronicle of major legislative initiatives over ~30 years in the U.S. Senate is interesting, but his recommendations for Congress include the kind of common-sense solutions that could help move the country forward while improving public confidence in government.

[Ruben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't see eye to eye with Bingaman on every issue, but his service as senator to my home state is admirable. This book does a good job showing the factors which influence dysfunction in congress and prevent it from carrying out its most basic important functions such as raising the debt ceiling or funding the government.