The Economist.
You get a really good salary, $174,000 a year.
You get tons of free travel, a staff that listens to you, and a very valuable pin.
Serving in Congress should be an honor.
Just think of all the retirement speeches that say it's been the honor of a lifetime.
But then there's the job of actually representing people and passing laws.
That hasn't been too great recently.
With it comes dialing for dollars, those daily phone calls asking for campaign donations,
constant flights back home to catch it from unhappy constituents,
and coveted committee chairmanships aren't what they used to be
since congressional leadership, not committees, actually writes the bills.
Of course, Congress only has itself to blame, but the American people are the ones who actually suffer.
I'm John Fasman, and this is Checks and Balance from The Economist.
Each week, we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
Today, just how bad is it to be in Congress?
Last term, it passed the fewest bills since the Civil War.
To many lawmakers, the job is either to block or to protect the President.
But what about everything else?
What needs to change to make Congress work for the people again?
Joining me to discuss this today is James Bennet, our Lexington columnist.