Congressional Management Foundation | State of the Congress 2024
State of the Congress 2024 reveals that senior congressional staff agree with what many Americans already believe: Congress is not doing well. A large majority of our survey respondents said Congress is not "functioning as a democratic legislature should," and identified deficiencies in the institution, especially with regards to civility and bipartisan collaboration. However, many metrics related to the capacity of the institution to function had improved. "What we found offers both hope and reason for concern. Based on results comparing the 2023 survey to the 2022 survey Congress may have improved in some important areas of legislative functionality including: access to high-quality, nonpartisan policy expertise within the Legislative Branch; the technological infrastructure; congressional capacity and support; human resource support; Members' and staffers' understanding of Congress' role in democracy; and accessibility and accountability to the public. But there is still a lot of room for continued improvement." The improved attitudes in these areas are likely due to the work of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (2019–2023) and the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Modernization (created in 2023).
Funded by grants from Business For America, Hewlett Foundation U.S. Democracy Program, Salesforce, and SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management.
