The federal legislative branch consistently misses statutory deadlines, lurching from crisis to crisis, all while lawmakers snipe at one another in a way that would get most people fired from regular jobs. What are the long-term consequences of operating in perpetual crisis? Is there a way Congress could become boring and efficient? 

Joining the Political Theater podcast to discuss this is Norm Ornstein, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a former Roll Call columnist and a person who knows more about the institution of Congress than most anyone on the planet.

Show Notes:

• Debt limit patch cleared for Biden, setting up year-end battle
• Congress blocks cuts to top contractors’ weapon budgets
• Biden signs short-term spending bill, averting shutdown
• It’s an empty room and hardly anyone’s watching. So why is Congress grandstanding?
• Senate Democrats unveil remaining fiscal 2022 spending bills