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Tuesday, April 30, 2024
For You: I Was an Attorney at the D.A.’s Office. This Is What the Trump Case Is Really About.
Opinion Today: 12 departing lawmakers tell us what Congress is really like
Exit interviews are never fun and rarely illuminating. They're normally conducted in poorly lit meeting rooms and dominated by blank stares. But this spring, Opinion Video decided to bring them to a different setting: the nation's capital. We traveled to Washington and took on the role of human resources for 12 departing lawmakers. They're among the dozens of Congress members leaving their seats this year, and more announcements are expected to come. Some of them are retiring after decades spent in public office. Others cited the institution's untenable dysfunction as part of their reason for calling it quits. I asked every lawmaker the same eight questions — diving into congressional salaries, political corruption, the frustrations of the job and its perks — so that they could help us assess the state of Congress and offer insights on how to improve it. It turns out that members of Congress don't feel much better about their workplace than many Americans. (The institution's public approval rating dropped to 13 percent last year, the lowest since 2017.) There's the routine threat of government shutdowns. An unprecedented speaker ouster and weekslong speaker votes. Constant political grandstanding. Partisan gridlock over urgent issues like immigration and foreign aid. But the interviews we conducted also revealed that there are lawmakers in our federal government trying to get things done even under the least optimal circumstances — and they're doing so often at a great sacrifice to their family lives and their sanity. Hear the Congress members in their own words: Here's what we're focusing on today:
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