Are amendment strategies learned through experience or contingent on the institution?
Seniority in Congress is a standard explanation for why some legislators are more effective lawmakers. Studies in political science reinforce this assumption with empirical observations that senior members are more… Read More
How the Senate keeps track of its precedents
An intricate architecture of rules and practices governs the legislative process in the Senate. The institution’s procedural structure rests on five interlocking supports: the Constitution; the Standing Rules of the… Read More
Republicans go nuclear: An after action report
Republicans in the Senate finally acted to change the rules to speed up the confirmation process for some presidential nominations. They used the nuclear option to shorten the amount of… Read More
Three ways Republicans can go nuclear
Frustrated by how long it takes to confirm President Trump’s nominees, Republicans are accusing Democrats of dragging out unnecessarily the time permitted under the rules after the Senate has invoked… Read More
Republicans poised to nuke legislative filibuster
In 2017, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged not to abolish the legislative filibuster. He did so to persuade his fellow Republicans to back his plan to use… Read More
Rule change empowers leaders to silence senators
Republicans in the Senate want to change the rules to speed up the confirmation process for presidential nominations. Yet their proposal goes much further. It empowers the majority and minority… Read More
The beginning of the end of the legislative filibuster? The unintended consequence of Blunt-Lankford rule change
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set up debate this week to limit post-cloture time to two hours on judicial and executive branch nominees (except agency heads and Supreme Court nominations). But… Read More
New R Sheet: Post-cloture debate time for presidential nominations
Key Points: 1) Republicans can speed up the confirmation process by enforcing the Senate’s current rules and practices. 2) Strictly enforcing the provisions of Rule XXII limits the amount… Read More
The ‘World’s Greatest Deliberative Body’? Yeah, right.
It’s hard to imagine the Senate being any more dysfunctional than it already is. And yet here we are. Reports indicate that Republicans, frustrated by how long it takes to confirm… Read More
Precedents: What they are and how they are created
Senate Republicans are not yet convinced that they can amend a resolution to terminate a presidential declaration of a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act. While the… Read More