Both Republican and Democratic senators are frustrated with the state of their chamber and the inability to make any progress in the face of President Donald Trump's encroachment on their authority, according to a new piece in The New York Times.
"Members current and former, Republican and Democratic, say the job comes with a sense of growing frustration and declining cachet," wrote opinion columnist Michelle Cottle. "The legislative process is a hot mess, and increasingly dominated by giant omnibus bills. Cross-aisle comity is passé. Independence and ideological heterodoxy are treated as heresy."
Senators headed home for summer break this weekend after failing to confirm a list of Trump nominees, prompting the president to tell Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) to "go to hell" on social media.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) told Cottle, “The problem is that we can’t get s---- done," adding that, "Creative obstructionism...has become 'a fine art that has reached its apex so that the institution is nearly paralyzed.'”
Smith announced she will not be running for reelection in 2026, and she's far from the only one.
Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) "decided to pack it in after clashing" with Trump, Cottle wrote. "Two senators have announced they are pursuing the more appealing gig of governor — Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, and Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado — and others are considering following suit."
"It’s a vicious cycle," wrote Cottle. "The more that talented people are turned off or driven out by the chamber’s dysfunction, the more it populates with extremists, opportunists and self-dealers. The more that partisan lines are enforced, the less room there is for moderates and independents, who are now nearly extinct."
Senators who spoke with Cottle claimed "that a majority of constituents want the chamber to turn" from the dark path it's currently headed down.
“There’s a lot of evidence that we’re headed down that road as a country,” said Bennet, “but I don’t think that’s where the American people want us to go.”