Insightful, timely.--Albuquerque Journal
Breakdown
Lessons for a Congress in Crisis
Description
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. Breakdown: 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.
Reviews
Bingaman distills important government trends from the murk of current events.--Pasatiempo
Bingaman distills important government trends from the murk of current events.--Pasatiempo
Throughout his career in the Senate, Jeff Bingaman was always someone I and his other colleagues could count on to take a deliberative approach and provide sage counsel to help drive progress on the most pressing issues facing the country. His insightful analysis of the impediments to successful governance and how to overcome them make Breakdown essential reading for anyone entering public service.--Vice President Al Gore
