ICYMI: Top reads on Congress

Jordain Carney, “Senate GOP poised to go ‘nuclear’ on Trump picks,” The Hill:

“Senate Republicans are set to hit the gas on confirming hundreds of President Trump’s nominees by muscling through a rules change that would dramatically cut down on the amount of time required to confirm district court and executive nominations.”

C. Ryan Barber, “‘I Don’t Want My Client to Be Blindsided’: Executives and Their Lawyers Brace for Rep. Katie Porter’s Questions,” National Law Journal:

“Porter’s distinctive style, drawing on her experience as a law school professor, has forced white-collar defense lawyers who specialize in congressional hearings to grapple with how to prepare clients for questioning that uses a company’s own legal arguments against its top executive. Her repeated, effective use of that approach promises to make her a starring figure in preparations that have been known to include mock hearings, with lawyers playing the part of lawmaker during rehearsals.”

William E. Nelson, “Danger ahead in the constitutional standoff over Trump’s emergency declaration,” The Conversation:

“The background for understanding what’s at stake begins more than two centuries ago. Looking at how the framers of the Constitution structured the separation of powers and checks and balances between Congress and the president shows how this standoff is better resolved by the political branches rather than by the courts.”

Molly Redden, “Women Hold Just As Many Congressional Committee Jobs As Men But Are Paid Less,” Huffington Post:

“Women working in some of the most coveted jobs on Capitol Hill face a pervasive pay gap and are underrepresented on many of Congress’ most powerful committees, a sweeping new analysis from the nonpartisan R Street Institute found.”

Katherine Tully-McManus, “Tips and calls to the Office of Congressional Ethics spiked last session,” Roll Call:

“Citizen outreach to the Office of Congressional Ethics more than doubled in the 115th Congress, but the agency’s pre-election blackout period means they didn’t take action on any cases in the last quarter of 2018.”

Dylan Scott and Li Zhou, “What Chuck Schumer can learn from Nancy Pelosi,” Vox:

“Pelosi is holding together a House majority that contains moderate members who just flipped conservative districts as well as the stars of the ascendant left. Schumer, likewise, already has to balance the likes of Joe Manchin (D-WV) with Bernie Sanders (I-VT).”

Julia Jacobs, “As C-Span Turns 40, a Top Executive Reflects on Bringing Cameras to Congress,” New York Times:

“Forty years ago, C-Span went live with its first public broadcast from the House of Representatives chamber, giving Americans a television-shaped window into how lawmakers behave in the ornate room where history is often made.”

David A. Graham, “C-SPAN Isn’t All Good,” The Atlantic:

“C-SPAN didn’t just create a way for politicians to vault out of the sleepy back benches of the House. It also changed the way things worked within the chamber. The most effective legislators are not always the most telegenic, and Congress’s work is sometimes unsavory.”

Jackson Gode, “More productive, more diverse: What ‘Vital Stats’ tells us about the new Congress,” Brookings FixGov:

“Supercharged by the largest freshman class since 2011 and a new Democratic majority looking to check the power of the Trump administration, productivity in the House of Representatives has gotten off to a strong start in the 116th Congress.”

Susan Davis, “Pay Raises, More Staff, Earmarks: Lawmakers Propose Ways To Overhaul Congress,” NPR. March 21, 2019.

“The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is equally divided between six Republicans and six Democrats, and it is expected to file a report by the end of the year with formal recommendations for how best to reform the House’s internal operations. Last week, the panel held a hearing in which all lawmakers were invited to come and offer up their best ideas for change.”

Meredith McGehee, “House leaders need to modernize Congress for the sake of America,” The Hill. March 20, 2019.

“When is the last time you saw both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy put politics aside and testify before the same committee? You would not know it from watching the cable news, but they did so last week at the first hearing of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.”

Nathan Ouellette, “What is congressional recess? Explaining time off in the House and Senate,” Roll Call (video):

“Both chambers are on recess this week and have about 15 planned each calendar year. While that may look like a lot of time off, members’ time away from Washington doesn’t mean fun in the sun and poolside rest and relaxation.”