Carnegie
Corporation
of New York
Summer 2007
Carnegie Corporation of New York provided the initial grants
and continues to fund two of Aspen Institute’s most influential
congressional retreat programs: U.S.-Russia and Education Reform. There
is substantial history behind these programs. The U.S.-Russia Program
was born more than 20 years ago while the Cold War was still a dominant
issue. The Education Reform Program came into being the following decade.
From the Reagan revolution of the 1980’s to the impeachment proceedings
of the 90’s to the congressional changeover to Democratic control
in 2007, the Aspen Institute Congressional Program has remained a constant
through political and policy upheaval.
While the foreign policy- and education-oriented conferences are independent programs with unrelated agendas, several influential members of Congress participate in both. The two programs are also joined together by the fact that they are a single long-running intellectual experiment designed to discover what happens when you take members of Congress out of the fractious partisan atmosphere of Washington, D.C. and give them the opportunity to speak freely about the issues, guided in their study by national and international scholars.
The yardstick of success in the legislative realm goes beyond talk to results delivered. While the Aspen Institute Congressional Program is deliberately designed not to advocate for specific issues, representatives and senators clearly focus on the policy implications of their discussions. Can members of Congress deal with real issues sans soundbites and media entourages? Legislators and observers alike claim they can. The retreats have played a powerful role say sponsors of significant foreign and education policy, who believe the impetus for these accomplishments came from Aspen Institute conferences. In fact, landmark legislation traceable to the Congressional Program conferences ranges from nuclear threat reduction to No Child Left Behind.
Sponsors of Aspen-inspired legislation cite the freewheeling debate and access to experts as spurs to progress in the lawmaking process. Freed from the frustrating time constraints of Capitol Hill, members of Congress can spend days immersed in issues--rather than the mere minutes they may have available in Washington. Immersion in the Russia and Education programs is near total, from seminars to socializing. One key factor in Aspen Institute’s success, both Republicans and Democrats report, is the way it fosters an atmosphere that facilitates bipartisan consensus back home. Experiences shared as Americans in another culture effectively build relationships between members of opposite parties or different legislative bodies who might never see each other inside the Beltway. Simply going for a walk together or picking the brains of experts in the field in ad hoc discussions, as well as sharing meals and informal discussions, can result in significant bonding. Even dinner seating is rotated to ensure maximum exposure to other legislators and scholars.
The cost of both the U.S.-Russia and Education programs is about a million dollars annually, a figure that has remained more or less constant in recent years. To date, the Russia Program has received about $13 million in grants from Carnegie Corporation, and the Education Program has received over $5 million. Some of the funds awarded to the Aspen Institute pay the expenses of members of Congress and their spouses, which has predictably raised a few eyebrows in the current climate of travel-related congressional scandals.
Participants, though, brush off any criticism of the program, pointing out that Aspen Institute seeks no legislative favors and requires serious work from every legislator who attends. Strict rules about participation are mailed along with the program invitations. Unlike many Washington events, Aspen Institute does not allow “drop by” participation and while there may be free time, it is most often used to meet with scholars. None of the sessions at these four-day conferences may be skipped. This seriousness of purpose is one of the Congressional Program’s distinguishing characteristics, along with its blend of bipartisanship, organization, and policy impact.