Congress Is No Longer Performing Its Constitutional Function

This failure is causing profound harm to America and Americans.

Allan J. Feifer | June 29, 2026

America’s political conversation has become a litany of national woes and frustrations: affordability, housing, healthcare, immigration, infrastructure, debt, workforce shortages, energy, national security, childcare, and more.

These are not isolated crises. They are symptoms of something much deeper.

America’s federal government is steadily and visibly losing its ability to govern. Americans have noticed, giving Congress its lowest approval ratings in a generation.

Affordability is the most visible sign, but by no means the only one. Inflationary pressures were building during the Biden administration long before the conflict in the Middle East drove energy prices higher. Wages have increased, yet many Americans still feel like they are falling behind because structural economic problems remain unresolved, while spending habits established during the pandemic have proven remarkably persistent. Congress continues debating the symptoms while refusing to address the underlying disease.

That same pattern appears almost everywhere one looks.

Housing remains scarce and unaffordable because Congress has failed for decades to modernize the federal incentives that shape development and permitting. Healthcare remains dysfunctional because Congress has never produced a coherent long-term framework. Immigration continues to lurch from crisis to crisis because lawmakers have repeatedly postponed meaningful statutory reform. Tuition exploded after Congress expanded financing without adequate safeguards. Regulatory bloat grows because when Congress stops legislating, federal agencies inevitably fill the vacuum. These examples barely scratch the surface. Across virtually every major policy area, Congress has allowed problems to accumulate faster than it resolves them.

Different problems. One common denominator: Congress........

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