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Evidence-based legislating: The missing link in efforts to resurrect Congress as the co-equal branch

October 28, 2019  ·  Denise Baer
The members of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress have been called “superheroes” for their strong bipartisan recommendations by Bruce Patton of the… Read More

Popular constitutionalism: But how would the people rule?

October 23, 2019  ·  Anthony Marcum
Fifteen years ago, Larry Kramer’s book The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review (Oxford University Press) challenged the conventional understanding of judicial review and introduced popular constitutionalism to… Read More

Adding capacity to House member offices: Who, what, how?

October 8, 2019  ·  Nick W. Zeppos
Congressional reformers frequently urge the House of Representatives to expand its capacity by expanding its staff, which has consistently shrunk over the last three decades. Often reformers are… Read More

Congressional diversity and pay: The Speaker’s data vs. Legistorm’s

October 2, 2019  ·  Casey Burgat
Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team released the results from its 2019 Compensation and Diversity Study of congressional staff. The study, administered by the House Chief Administrative… Read More

Reps. Takano and Foster, Sens. Hirono and Tillis introduce the Office of Technology Assessment Improvement and Enhancement Act

September 23, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
On September 19, 2019, “Reps. Mark Takano (D-CA) and Bill Foster (D-IL) and Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Office of Technology Assessment Improvement and Enhancement… Read More

APSA Task Force Memorandum: The House of Representatives’ work schedule: Issues, and options for reform

September 12, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:      Prof. Jason Roberts, University of North Carolina, chair; Prof. James Curry, University of Utah;… Read More

APSA Task Force Memorandum: Congressional staffing diversity and retention

September 5, 2019  ·  Kathryn Pearson et al.
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:      Kathryn Pearson, Chair, University of Minnesota ; Casey Burgat, R Street Institute; Menna… Read More

Groups request more visibility from House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group

August 21, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
August 14, 2019 The Honorable Douglas Letter Office of General Counsel 219 Cannon House Office Building U.S House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Letter:… Read More

Can Congress curb its spending?

August 12, 2019  ·  James Wallner
Congress recently approved legislation to suspend the federal debt ceiling and increase spending above levels currently allowed in law. In doing so, its members challenged our assumptions regarding the efficacy… Read More

Should we rename the Office of Technology Assessment?

August 8, 2019  ·  Zach Graves
Over the past year or so, there’s been growing … Read More