No, getting rid of Congress is not a clever idea
Congressional majorities and President Donald Trump disagreed about how much money ought to be used to extend barriers running along our nation’s southern border. Their disagreement led to a partial… Read More
Video: America’s longest shutdown
LIVESTREAM:: America's Longest Shutdown @jiwallner, Charlie Bolton in @senrobportman's office, @julia_azari. https://t.co/l7WBznoJxZ — R Street Institute (@RSI) February 12,… Read More
Senate and House Legislative Branch subcommittee members appointed
The Legislative Branch subcommittees of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees contain several newcomers in the 116th. Newly elected Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) will chair the subcommittee on… Read More
Human capital and institutional decline in congressional appropriations committees
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
Throwback Thursday: Are we surprised the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform crashed and burned?
Last February, Congress established a Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The committee, comprised of equal numbers of… Read More
The great earmark debate: Who should determine federal spending priorities?
Opponents in the debate over earmarks have never fallen neatly along the partisan divide. Outspoken critics – organizations such as Citizens Against Government Waste and Taxpayers for Common Sense,… Read More
What’s in the FY2019 House Legislative Branch Appropriation?
On September 10th House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced details of the first of three FY2019 minibus appropriations packages after reaching a conference agreement on appropriations bills for Energy… Read More
How to spot policy riders in appropriations bills
(Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared in Legislative Procedure on August 15, 2018.) By James Wallner Senate Rule XVI (paragraphs 1 and 2) prohibits the inclusion of… Read More
ICYMI: Budget process reform
On June 25th, 2018, the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group partnered with the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution to discuss how to build a better budget process. The… Read More
How pork-barrel spending shapes the ideological composition of Congress
In classrooms across the country, economics professors often use the phrase “guns and butter” as an analogy for the competing priorities nations face when deciding how to allocate resources. Read More