After a 35-day-long shutdown, the longest in American history, the government is back open—at least for now. The five-week shutdown set a new precedent of behavior, compromise and cooperation between Congress and the White House. The standoff, which ended on Jan. 25, resulted in a three-week continuing resolution, not a long-term budget or solution.
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, join the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group for a lunch discussion on the current status of our nation’s funded operations, what the shutdown shows us about the health of our institutions and action steps Congress can take to reassert its powers.
Lunch will be provided.
SPEAKERS
James Wallner
PhD., Senior Fellow of Governance, R Street Institute
Charlie Bolton
Legislative Assistant for Senator Rob Portman
Julia Azari
PhD., Associate Professor and Assistant Chair in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University
This meeting is open to Capitol Hill staff; experts on Congress; and anyone else who cares about the well-being of America’s legislative branch. This meeting is open to media, and the group’s co-directors, Kevin R. Kosar and Lee Drutman, are available for interviews and comment. They can be reached at kkosar@rstreet.org and drut
New America and the R Street Institute launched the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group in spring 2016. The group formed in response to widespread perception that Congress is dysfunctional. The Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group aims to assess Congress’ capacity to perform its constitutional duties and to collaborate on ideas to improve the legislative branch’s performance in our separation-of-powers system.