ABSTRACT
In the midst of the congressional session, one legislator introduced a bill to raise members' salaries after an effort in the previous Congress had been voted down decisively. The institutional dilemma comes from two types of behavior: open criticism of Congress by members who tear down its reputation in order to secure partisan or personal advantage; and members' unwillingness to pay the costs of institutional maintenance. The policy dilemma comes from the inherent tension in any representative assembly between national and local interests. Institutionalized practices such as "logrolling," whereby members trade votes for support on each others' local projects or legislation, makes the collective dilemma all the more likely. The relative permanence of the debate indicates that any discussion of congressional reform must recognize that the tension between individual and institutional interests and between the local and the general is inherent and fundamentally irresoluble. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
