Gideon Resnick

One former member, Democrat Jim Cooper, put it pretty bluntly to NPR by saying that, quote, Congress is in a coma.

The people that Sprunt spoke to also painted a picture of an institution that has had trouble for years.

And there are structural things at play that have made an impact.

For example, back when Newt Gingrich became the Republican Speaker of the House in 1985, he instituted shorter congressional work weeks so that members could spend more time at home in their districts, in part to fundraise more.

Sprunt told us that has contributed to a cultural change on the Hill.

Some former members also told her that there is a consolidation of power in party leadership that makes some of the job of legislating on committees a lot less enticing.

In the face of all this, some former members told Sprunt that they advise potential candidates to run for state office.

Yet others said it's critical to have more people who are serious about making positive change run for national office.

There are some practical things that have been suggested, like reexamining the legislative calendar and boosting the importance of committees.

But Sprunt said that those potential changes could take a while to institute.

Let's turn now to immigration, another story that has defined the year.

As the White House has pushed for higher deportation rates, ICE agents have arrested more and more families.

Children are not meant to be held in custody for more than 20 days, thanks to a legal settlement dating back nearly 30 years.

Courts have blocked multiple attempts by the Trump administration in this term and his first to abolish those protections.

But new reporting from The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom focused on criminal justice reform, suggests that more than 1,300 children have been held for longer than they should have.

And that represents about a third of children they have found to have been taken into ICE custody.

On a flag is a senior data reporter who told us about a woman identified as NGC in court documents and her child.

They were transferred from a Chicago airport to an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas.

NGC described Dilley as a living hell.

The Department of Homeland Security has previously told CNN that all detainees receive clean water and three meals a day.