Dr. Maya Kornberg: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress

Join us on August 7 at noon/PT as we welcome special guest Maya Kornberg, PhD, to discuss her new book Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress.

Watch here. 

Despite fifty years of idealistic, diverse new lawmakers arriving in Washington, Congress remains paralyzed and inhospitable to change. In Stuck, Maya Kornberg explains that well-intentioned reforms have been thwarted by systemic forces: political violence, skyrocketing campaign costs, constant fundraising, diminished staff, and centralized party leadership. Furthermore, social media has fueled a performative culture that prioritizes spectacle over substance. This gridlock reveals how internal dynamics cripple America’s central democratic institution, causing citizens to lose faith. Ultimately, Kornberg argues that saving American democracy requires targeted structural reforms that empower new members and restore Congress’s capacity to function.

Maya L. Kornberg is a senior research fellow at NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice and the author of Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in Lawmaking.