Suggested Reforms to the US Congress
Congress is the branch of the American government that makes the laws, set the budget, and connect intimately with citizens. The first two duties of Congress have been upheld since time immemorial. However, Congress has failed terribly at connecting with the people. Ideally, Congressmen are supposed to be elected by the majority and represent the interest of their voters in Congress. Ironically, most congress members connect with people during campaign elections and sideline the interests of the voters when they get to Congress. Several reforms to Congress would ensure that members of Congress connect with citizens from their district as well as campaign for the interests of the voters.
Congress should revive the Office of Technology Assessment. The non-partisan agency was tasked with assessing new technology and advising Congress on how to implement the latest tech. At present, the majority of US citizens are made up of technology-savvy youths. A Congress that does not understand or implement advanced communication technology cannot connect with the youth. Furthermore, social media creates numerous communication forums where congress members can interact with members from their districts and address their concerns.
The Congress calendar should be changed. It is uncommon for the House to be in session for an entire week. Therefore, congress members fly to DC on Mondays and fly back home on Fridays. The constant back and forth traveling costs the taxpayers a lot of money and wastes time for members of Congress. The back and forth going leaves members of Congress with minimal time to spend more time in their home districts and listen to the grievances of their people.
Committee chairs should be elected and not appointed. For members that were elected in a democratic voting process, members of Congress should also elect committee chairs democratically. Instead of appointing members who raise tones of money in fundraisers, committee chairs should be vetted based on their work and their productivity in the committees. Productive chairs are more likely to push productive and developmental agendas. Furthermore, members with interests of becoming committee chairs will be forced to devise ways of being productive congress members by increasing contact time with home district members and creating productive policies.