ICYMI: Top Reads on Congress

Casey Burgat, “The case against congressional term limits,” R Street Policy Study, July 18, 2019:

“Put simply, term limits have proven to be a brain drain on legislatures.

Naomi Lim, “Staffers-turned-lawmakers find they face hundreds of thousands of bosses rather than one,” Washington Examiner, July 18, 2019:

“As a legislative director, you can succeed every day of the week. As a member of Congress, you’re going to disappoint every day of the week. That’s the nature of the game.

Grant Tudor and Justin Warner, “Bring back the OTA? Not without a few changes,” LegBranch.org, July 18, 2019:

“The OTA exemplified a standard-setting approach for its time. While Congress should rightly look to the agency for inspiration, it shouldn’t stop there. A new model is needed for a new era.”

Maya MacGuineas, “No budget. On the brink of default. It’s a hell of a way to run a country,” Washington Post, July 18, 2019.

“[T]he federal debt as a share of the economy is the highest it has ever been other than just after World War II. Yet our political leaders are busy swinging back and forth between doing nothing about the debt and making it worse.”

Thomas Jipping, “Is this the ‘New Normal’ for the Confirmation Process?” National Review, July 17, 2019:

“30 months after Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, the Senate’s new normal for considering judicial nominations seems to be raw, partisan politics that all but ignores the qualifications of nominees.”

Zack Stanton, “Why aren’t more Republican women in Congress?” Politico, July 17, 2019:

“And at this moment — with a massive gender gap in polls and the number of Republican women in the House at its lowest level in a quarter-century — some in the GOP are ready to take that first step and admit that the party has a problem when it comes to electing women and attracting their support at the ballot box.”

Casey Burgat, “The take down that wasn’t: Pelosi and yesterday’s House kerfuffle,” LegBranch .org, July 16, 2019:

“To recap the maddening irony of House parliamentary procedure: The House was debating a resolution that would officially condemn the president for making racist comments, but Pelosi’s declaring the president a racist on the House floor was out of bounds.”

Aubrey Neal, “Senate sets record for least amount of amendment votes taken before August recess,” AIN Update, July 15, 2019:

“When compared to earlier records, the 116th Senate’s record is a ringing signal that senators are increasingly unwilling to vote on amendments and are instead turning to the majority leader to use his procedural prerogatives to block proposals on the Senate floor.”