ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the context of congressional reform: What are the goals the members are trying to achieve through reform? It examines efforts at congressional reform, with special attention given to the "Republican Revolution" in 1995 and the extent to which these reforms address the collective dilemma. The chapter addresses and critique the major reforms still on the table at the end of the 1990s: measures aimed at enhancing descriptive representation, limiting the number of terms incumbents could serve, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and the line item veto. It explores these reforms, and one that was implemented in Congress in 1995—substantial cuts in committee staff—because they do nothing to address the collective dilemma. The chapter argues that the reforms are based on a simplistic notion of how Congress operates, and that there is no empirical evidence to suggest that they would have the intended effect.
