This is a compelling, essentially structural rather than partisan analysis: Why is Congress so dumb? We lawmakers dumped our in-house experts. Now lobbyists do the thinking for us.

After decades of disinvesting in itself, Congress has become captured by outside interests and partisans. Lawmakers should be guided by independent scholars, researchers and policy specialists. We must recognize our difficulties in comprehending an impossibly complex world. Undoing the mindless destruction of 1994 will take a lot of effort, but with investment, we can make Congress work again.

Note that the author is a congressman from N.J.