# Congress' Slide Into Irrelevance Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-7112446/congress-slide-into-irrelevance Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-7112446/congress-slide-into-irrelevance.md Podcast: [History As It Happens](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-7112446) Published: 2026-07-24T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://historyasithappens.libsyn.com/congress-slide-into-irrelevance Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyasithappens/HH-FREE-568-260724.mp3?dest-id=2566565 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-as-it-happens-7112446/episodes/congress-slide-into-irrelevance Duration seconds: 2283 ## Resource Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Is Congress irreparably broken or temporarily stuck as it fails to act as a co-equal branch of government willing to check a rogue executive? And how did it get this way? In the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, the winds of political change swept young, ambitious reformers into the halls of Congress, and they left an important legislative legacy. But in the decades since, Congress' potential to affect meaningful change — and prevent unnecessary wars — has been whittled away. Maya Kornberg is here to explain why. Maya Kornberg is a senior research fellow at NYU Law's Brennan Center for Justice, and the author of Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress . Further listening: Iran and the Laws of War w/ Adil Haque Obama and Libya w/ Jeremi Suri ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-as-it-happens-7112446/episodes/congress-slide-into-irrelevance/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-7112446/congress-slide-into-irrelevance.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.