Historically, we see Congress change when there's an influx of new members.

So in 1974, what was called as the Class of 74 was a huge group of new freshmen members

that were elected after Watergate. And these members wanted to change the way

the things were done. And a lot of the rules that I was just talking about were changed

in the 1970s, partially as a result of this new energy from these new members.

In 2018, we saw the most new members elected to the House since Watergate.

And I don't think it's a coincidence that then at the beginning of 2019,

we saw the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress form and look at the way in which

Congress can change things and reinvest in staff and do things like that. That's because of new members.

I can't deny it anymore. You can't stick to your story if you think it flies.

But I'm not gonna buy it anymore.

Hello, my friend, and thank you for listening to the 273rd episode of Congressional Dish.

I'm your host Jennifer Briny. If you've never heard this show before,

thank you for trying it out because I know that it is a tough sell to get someone to listen to a

podcast about Congress. Wow, what a show. Congress has been pretty much the whole time I've

done this podcast, which has been for over a decade now. Now, most of the episodes of Congressional

Dish are me doing deep dives into some kind of subject in Congress, whether it is covering

Congressional hearings or bills or laws or whatever it is. It's usually just me.

But this is going to be one of the rare episodes in which it's going to be an interview because I

learned so much from my guest today. My guest today is Maya Cornberg and she wrote a book called

Inside Congressional Committees, Function and Disfunction in the Legislative Process.

And so I conducted this interview because I wanted to know what was going on inside of these

...