Actually one of the biggest losses in Congress has been committees. The committee driven Congress was slowly pushed aside by the Republicans as part of their ta

Actually one of the biggest losses in Congress has been committees. The committee driven Congress was slowly pushed aside by the Republicans as part of their take over in the nineties and then nearly completely neutered by the Democrats when they took on the concept of party first politics. At least with the old system the committees were far more important than their members and they drove policy across Congress as a whole, not all direction is from the party into Congress