ICYMI: How One Senator Helped His Colleagues Get Answers from the Executive Branch
Source: https://www.grassley.senate.gov/ Charles S. Cook writes at Government Executive: “The White House is no longer rigidly defending a Justice Department opinion that the Trump administration was using to instruct agencies… Read More
Congress May Be More Bipartisan Than You Think
At the Library of Congress’s Congress and History conference, political scientists James Curry and Frances Lee presented their working paper “Non-Party Government: Bipartisan Lawmaking and Theories… Read More
ICYMI: How to Make the Senate Work Again
Source: https://www.lankford.senate.gov/ Sen. James Lankford, R-OK, writes in the Wall Street Journal: “James Madison explained that the Constitution’s authors considered the Senate to be the great “anchor” of the government. Read More
Two Former House Members’ Plea to Return to Regular Order
Former Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-FL, and Martin Frost, D-TX, write in The Hill: “The average rank-and-file member, which means the vast majority of senators and representatives, no longer… Read More
ICYMI: Sen. John McCain’s Speech on the Senate and Regular Order
Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, delivered this speech on July 25, 2017. ““I’ve known and admired men and women in the Senate who played much more than a… Read More
Senator Ron Johnson on Nominations Reform
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wi, writes in the Washington Post: “As of July 22, the Senate has confirmed only 50 of President Trump’s 229 executive nominations. Put another way,… Read More
Are Long Weekends Cutting Into Congress’s Productivity?
The typical congressional schedule finds members in legislative session beginning Tuesday morning and returning to their districts or states Thursday evening for constituent-related work. Members also have district work… Read More
The Strange Appearance of No Confidence Votes in Congress
Donald Wolfensberger writes at The Hill: “If you can’t pull a rabbit out of your own hat, use someone else’s. On July 19, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and… Read More
Why Amending Obamacare Under Reconciliation Will Be Hard
James Wallner writes at the Examiner: “Changing a reconciliation bill in the Senate is harder than you think. And the reason why has nothing to do with healthcare… Read More
Confused by Reconciliation? Read This.
Molly Reynolds writes at the FixGov blog: “With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) planning to try to begin debate on the Republican health care bill Tuesday, lots… Read More