An effective democracy hinges on there being a basic level of trust between legislators and their constituents and a regular demonstration that the government can deliver on pressing challenges. Yet in the U.S., decade after decade, that trust has been on a path to erosion.
Americans trust their government less than at any time since polling began in 1958. The drama, politicking and chaos on Capitol Hill inevitably leaves most people feeling unseen, or unmotivated to engage.
Last week, Congress passed another stop-gap spending measure, averting a government shutdown for the third time in four months, until the next deadline in March. This seemingly never-ending debate between funding or shutting down the government only exemplifies the widespread perception that “the government” is neither for the people nor by the people. It also creates chaos for those inside the government who are trying to make it deliver for the public.
Our elected officials need to reassess their priorities. With 2024 well underway, the onus is on Congress to deliver the economic and social policy building blocks that can enable Americans to thrive.
Along these lines, a 2024 in/out list for lawmakers is not hard to conceive — and it’s short, too.
Out: Partisan bickering that threatens to bring public services to a halt.
In: Sustained funding for the rest of the fiscal year, easing the financial burden on everyday Americans and taking more seriously the act of governing and its impact on people.
No matter who holds the title of Speaker of the House, lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — have yet to find common ground and address the country’s most pressing issues. Instead, they are playing chicken with immigration reform and funding for our allies abroad — all while criticizing their political counterparts for the same inaction.
The idea that lawmakers could truly work together would sound naïve if it had not happened so recently.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers rallied to mitigate the economic impact on businesses, take steps to ensure millions of Americans had access to health care during the crisis, and bolster unemployment insurance for those who lost their jobs. Critics could say the bipartisan compromises were imperfect and ideologically impure, but they helped Americans during a time of unprecedented crisis and laid the groundwork for an economy to turn around rapidly.
Our government really made a difference during this period: Programs in the American Rescue Plan cut child poverty nearly in half, to 5.2 percent — the lowest rate ever. Nearly 16 million business applications have been launched since the start of the 2021. According to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities chartbook tracking the economic recovery, “the overall number of jobs rose above pre-pandemic levels in August 2022 and in December 2023 was 4.9 million jobs higher than in February 2020.” It also corresponded with a brief, modest uptick in levels of public trust in government, across demographics and political orientations.
While efforts from the Cares Act to the American Rescue Plan were Congress acting swiftly in crisis, the profound impacts of these compromise policies extend even today, showing that it is possible for this body to lower the burden of everyday life for so many Americans. And it’s needed now more than ever. Across the country, families are dealing with high cost of living, balancing work demands with a childcare shortage, or hoping for tax relief. Two-thirds of workers report that the cost of living is outpacing growth in their wages, and only 57 percent of families living with children can pay a $400 emergency expense.
The economy has made a robust comeback since COVID, but for the 62 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the current start-stop governing seems like a distraction for working on the things that matter. Indeed, 25 percent of Americans now say that neither party represents them well, and nearly 90 percent say the two parties are more interested in battling one another than finding solutions.
Allowing the threat of a government shutdown to loom for months on end creates an unsolvable paradox. Congress cannot solve the nation’s challenges while simultaneously holding it hostage.
For those in government agencies trying to serve the public, the stopgap measures create chaos. One senior government official explained to me that whole months are lost on contingency planning, taking federal workers away from their day jobs. Agencies that directly serve the public, like the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the Veterans Administration, are unable to give clients concrete timelines under ongoing threats of a government shutdown. The official explained how hard it is to focus on outcomes with the shutdown shifting: “It is absolutely infuriating, the time wasted from doing your job of serving the public, and instead we are lapse planning, trying to manage contingencies.”
While the goals of Congress are simple, the duties are not. Charged with representing a country with gun violence, climate change, the cost of living, and a broken immigration system top of mind, the overarching goal of creating a more prosperous future seems out of reach. Americans have consistently asked for compromise solutions to these and other issues. For his part, President Biden continues to offer up practical solutions, such as a $16 billion proposal to sustain the child care sector — a step that would drastically change the economic bracket of millions of families.
The new year brings new urgency for Congress to address short-term funding challenges and revisit its commitment to long-term governance. Out with the partisan politicking, in with smart policy and delivery for the American families who need it most.
Tara Dawson McGuinness is the author of “Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology” and founder of the New Practice Lab, a winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas competition.
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