“Why We Left Congress”: Excerpts of our conversation with Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA)
Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in October 2007. In August 2017, she announced that she would not be running… Read More
“Why We Left Congress”: Excerpts of our conversation with Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)
Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) has represented Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District since January 2009. A former accountant who served six years as the treasurer of Kansas, Jenkins announced her decision to… Read More
Why we left Congress: How the legislative branch is broken and what we can do about it
Systemic institutional dysfunction was a leading cause for more than 50 Republican and Democratic members of Congress who voluntarily did not seek re-election this year, according to a new joint… Read More
Making a better Senate: Reduce filibustering and vote on amendments
Although some states are still counting votes, it is clear that the Democrats will be the majority party in the U.S. House while Republicans will continue to hold a majority… Read More
Self-government in a republic of 325 million
In the 2016 and 2018 elections, both sides claimed that they represented the “real” American people. Candidates from both parties called for the people to rise up and take the… Read More
Examining the Problem Solvers Caucus proposed rules changes
In her bid to regain the Speaker’s gavel, Rep. Nancy Pelosi has been quietly meeting and assuaging members who were previously dead-set on opposing her nomination. And, in typical fashion,… Read More
New R Sheet: Congressional Reorganization Acts
Click here for full report (PDF)… Read More
The House asked members for their ideas to make Congress work better. This is what they suggested
(Editor’s note: The post originally appeared on FixGov on September 21, 2018.) On September 13, the House Committee on Rules’ Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House held… Read More
Congress: Difficult by design
Daniel Patrick Moynihan once remarked that “the United States is the one nation in the world with a real legislature.” The senator from New York was boasting of our system, but… Read More
Eliminating the Motion to Vacate is a bad idea
By Joshua C. Huder One thing I really don’t understand about recent reform proposals: Eliminating or significantly tailoring the motion to vacate. This very rare motion has received more… Read More