'Congress is in a coma.' Former lawmakers sound alarm on health of the House [View all]
Source: NPR
December 21, 2025 5:00 AM ET
Congress is wrapping up the year in the shadow of the longest government shutdown and with a growing reputation as the least productive in modern history.
"Congress is in a coma. It has a pulse, but not many brainwaves," said former Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat who represented Tennessee for 32 years. "It's hard to tell that it's even alive as an institution."
A record number of lawmakers are calling it quits ahead of the midterm elections next year and are running for the Capitol exits, pursuing different offices or retiring from political life altogether. While there's a temptation to look at a diminished House as a symptom of the first year of the second Trump administration, former members told NPR that legislative stagnation and low morale have been building for quite some time.
Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who serves as president of the Association of Former Members of Congress, said the issues are growing deeper. "We've done studies showing the reason a lot of people are leaving is because it's not functional, because of death threats, because they're not getting anything done," she said in an interview.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/21/g-s1-101741/congress-is-in-a-coma-former-lawmakers-sound-alarm-on-health-of-the-house
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