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July 19, 2026 / 9:17 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Inside the U.S. Capitol, statues memorialize distinguished Americans, including famed social commentator and actor Will Rogers, who once quipped about Congress, "Every time they make a joke, it's a law, and every time they make a law, it's a joke."Humor like that still rings true to the nearly 9 in 10 Americans who say they're unhappy with Congress. "It's a great American pastime to hate Congress," said Carl Hulse, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times. "But I do think there's a lot of frustration with Congress."Hulse has covered Capitol Hill since the Reagan administration. Asked if he sees a broken institution today, he replied, "Oh yes, totally. I unfortunately have said to people, 'I've spent my career covering the decline of Congress.' And yeah, they need to get it together. But there's just very, very little cooperation between the parties, and you can't make things happen that way."I do think a lot of them want to do the right thing, and they just can't quite get themselves there to do it," he added. The fact is, under the Constitution, Congress really does have power. "Article I is a real thing," said Hulse. "I think what's happened with the Republicans in this Congress, and ceding power to the administration, has been a real mistake on a lot of fronts – tariffs, war powers, the things that are actually enumerated in the Constitution. They're giving away the store. And once you give away some power, you never get it back."The Republicans might be looking at this and going, 'Well, you know, this is President Trump, our guy. We needed to do that.' Trust me: the next Democratic president isn't going to turn around and say, 'You know, that was a big mistake letting Congress get so weak. We need to empower them again.' No, it's not gonna happen. It goes for good."
