Photo of Casey Burgat

Casey Burgat

Associate Fellow, Governance Project, R Street Institute
Casey Burgat is an Associate Fellow at the R Street Institute and an Assistant Professor within the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management where he teaches classes on legislative politics, legislative procedure, and congressional operations. Casey also serves as Director of the Legislative Affairs masters program within the graduate school.

Prior to joining GWU, Casey Burgat was a Governance Project senior fellow with the R Street Institute, where he researched and wrote about congressional capacity and ways to make the First Branch of government work better. Casey joined R Street in May 2017 from the Congressional Research Service, where he served in the Executive Branch Operations and the Congress & Judiciary sections.

Casey is a graduate of Arizona State University, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He also has a master’s in political management from the George Washington University and received his doctorate in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, where his dissertation focused on the impacts of congressional staff.

Casey lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, two kids, and a monster yellow lab named Yoshi.

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Potential non-salary staffing reforms

April 16, 2019
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:       Casey Burgat, Senior Fellow, R Street Institute Reform:   Potential non-salary staffing reforms… Read More
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The good, the bad, and the ugly: House committee authorizations edition

April 4, 2019
Follow the money. The  cliche is typically employed  by investigators looking to break a case. But the saying applies to Congress, as well. In order… Read More
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Testimony: Congressional staff

April 2, 2019
Written testimony of Casey Burgat Senior Governance Fellow, R Street Institute Before the House of Representatives Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee… Read More
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New report: Who’s on the Hill?

March 18, 2019
On Capitol Hill, any issue area expertise in committee offices largely stems from the staffers who support each committees’ operations. After all, committee work is only one component of a member’s… Read More
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At congressional hearings, let the experts do the talking

March 1, 2019
Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing featuring President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen was what many expected it to be: largely scripted, with dramatic and partisan-tailored questions designed either to… Read More
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R Street Explainer: How the minority party can impact legislation in today’s Congress

February 19, 2019
The House of Representatives is fundamentally a majoritarian institution. That is, any coalition or party with the majority of votes can largely dominate the chamber’s agenda, scheduling, procedure and outcomes. Read More
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OK, so the House wants to reform itself? Here’s what it should really do.

January 30, 2019
Early this month, on the opening day of the 116th Congress, something unusual happened: The House of Representatives took a step to reform itself. Legislators approved a package… Read More
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House Democrats revealed their rules package. Here are the biggies.

January 2, 2019
Late Tuesday night, House Democrats unveiled a wide-ranging set of proposed rules changes. As expected, the changes concentrate on member ethics and corruption, but also touch on issues of… Read More
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Congress in 2019: The 2nd most educated and least politically experienced House freshman class

December 28, 2018
As we outlined in an earlier article, the 116th Congress is going to look a lot different than its predecessors thanks to a younger, more female, less white new… Read More
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Human capital and institutional decline in congressional appropriations committees

December 17, 2018
The new, divided Congress about to be seated in January will feature one of the most reform-minded freshman classes in recent congressional history. As Congress considers sweeping electoral and institutional… Read More