More diversity would make for a better Congress

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If you haven’t noticed, Congress doesn’t represent a cross-section of America. Its members comprise a narrow sector of the nation, and that’s a problem for reasons I’ll discuss in a minute. First, let’s look at the numbers.

Non-Hispanic whites make up 61 percent of our population, but 80 percent of representatives and senators are white. People 60 years old or older make up just 20 percent of the population but the average age of a representative is 57; for a senator ...

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Congress backs down on gun violence studies

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After 23 massacres since 2007, where 202 people were murdered with guns, we still know little about gun violence. Why? Because Congress cowers to the NRA and won’t fund gun violence studies.

The entity best suited for this work, the Centers for Disease Control, is precluded by law from analyzing gun deaths. In a 1996 appropriations bill (at page 245, if you care to check) is a line that reads, “That none of the funds made available for injury prevention and ...

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