From Politico comes insight from Members of Congress.
These are from Sean Casten, who answered more questions that pretty much anyone else:
Capitol Hill, like high school or your office, has plenty of different personalities, and people don’t always mesh. We asked members of Congress: Who is your least favorite fellow lawmaker? Most took a pass on that one, but a few at least acknowledged they had someone in mind.
“The single least impressive person I have ever met in this job or any job I’ve ever had is Kevin McCarthy. He is just a vapid shell of a human being who stands for nothing, who never took his oath seriously.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
Democrats are completely shut out of power in Washington, and it’s unclear how long they’ll be in the wilderness as debate still rages over why they lost to Trump and what they should do next. So we asked Democrats: Has the party learned any lessons from their 2024 defeat?
“Every democracy in the world voted to throw the bums out in ’24, because every democracy in the world was faced with global inflation. The Democrats did better than the Tories, we did better than the LDP in Japan, we did better than the Dutch, we did better than Macron’s party in France. But everybody voted against the incumbents.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
We also asked lawmakers what’s the worst thing about their own party — and some people let it rip.
“There is no smoke-filled room. We all come here, we march to our own drum. It’s always a cat-herding exercise.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
Despite all the grumbling about dysfunction on Capitol Hill, many lawmakers still have their idealism intact. Here’s what they said they love most about Congress.
“Just the scale of what you can do and the impact. Any time you think to yourself, ‘What would I do next?’ That answer is invariably, ‘It won’t matter as much.’” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
Real political reform will not be easy, to say the least — but what if it were? We asked lawmakers what they would do to fix Congress if they could snap their fingers.
“I think it’s appropriate to talk about expanding the size of the House.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) recently suggested, in an awkward attempt to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, that senators are showing up drunk to cast votes on the floor. Members of Congress have been known to enjoy a drink or two, but this accusation was far more explosive. Are lawmakers voting with a clear enough head?
“If you are prone to substance abuse, everything about this job probably makes it worse.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
