Rebuilding Congress from Within: How Factions Facilitate Deliberation and Lawmaking

James Wallner and Soren Dayton, Rebuilding Congress from Within: How Factions Facilitate Deliberation and Lawmaking, Foundation for American Innovation, January 22, 2026.

James Wallner and Soren Dayton’s report argues that congressional dysfunction stems from a centralized, leader-driven decision-making process that suppresses deliberation and excludes rank-and-file lawmakers. The suppression of the pluralism produces gridlock on major issues. When large bills do get enacted it is through a top-down process: the chambers’ leadership negotiates behind closed doors and forces through via artificial deadlines with minimal member input.

Factions—informal, intraparty groups of like-minded lawmakers—are not troublesome rebels within their parties. Rather, Wallner and Dayton contend they are more beneficial than costly, and they want them further empowered. Factions

• provide policy services in the form of shared staff and analytical capacity, enabling members to develop independent legislative agendas and counter leadership’s information monopoly;
• coordinate members by facilitating collective action on the floor and during committee work, allowing members;
• build coalitions through partnering with outside advocacy groups and administration officials, which can helpfully expand the scope of conflict and mobilize public support; and
• aid in elections by providing “party sub-brands” that help lawmakers communicate specific policy stances to constituents while managing their own political risk.

Wallner and Dayton urging philanthropic organizations to shift from purely technocratic reforms toward supporting factions. By funding the “connective tissue” that already exists within the House and Senate, philanthropy can help channel political conflict into productive deliberation and negotiation, ultimately strengthening Congress as an institution.