I hate to be that EU guy, but Claudia Gray’s book Bloodline goes into a lot of detail about how corrupt and ineffectual the NR senate is and how Leia’s basically been cast out since the secret about her parentage was revealed. Half the senators secretly back the First Order and that’s why the Resistance had to be established as a rogue watchdog group in the first place.
I hope Lucas gets a credit for this 'cause it looks like a PT plot 😃