William Barr and Congress’ broken contempt power

June 24, 2019
Source: ABC News. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend that the House hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. The 24-16 decision was made along partisan… Read More

Permanent appropriations: Might they improve the budget process?

June 17, 2019
If you have not read Prof. Andrew Taylor’s article in the latest copy of National Affairs, you should. It is… Read More

New paper on CRS’s declining role in supporting committee oversight

September 10, 2018
                                                         … Read More

Congressional reform is way overdue

August 2, 2018
Source: Gallup.com President Donald J. Trump’s recent Helsinki trip was an awful spectacle. In short order, he managed to antagonize the allies we need to maintain European stability and… Read More

Library plan to publish CRS reports falls short of the law, and is unduly expensive

July 12, 2018
By Daniel Schuman, Kevin Kosar, and Josh Tauberer Civil society, students, librarians, and the general public were elated when Congress decided to make the non-confidential non-partisan reports issued by… Read More

The struggle between objectivity vs. neutrality continues at the Congressional Research Service

February 13, 2018
By Kevin R. Kosar Recently, leadership of the Congressional Research Service and the Library of Congress were presented with a memorandum. It expressed concern that the agencies’ analysts,… Read More

Ten ways to unsuck Congress

January 30, 2018
“This place sucks.” Sen. Joe Manchin’s candid commentary came during discussions with Democratic leadership about whether the West Virginia senator would run for reelection. Manchin’s remarks were less a… Read More

Bring in the nerds: Reviving the Office of Technology Assessment

January 27, 2018
                                                    View/download PDF copy… Read More

Agencies’ responsibilities to inform Congress: Clashing views

January 18, 2018
Source: The Hill . By Kevin R. Kosar “Notice and Comment,” the heady Yale Journal on Regulation blog, posted this short piece by Brian D. Feinstein, a University… Read More

When Congress worked for them: Bobby Baker and congressional corruption

November 21, 2017
  To those who would wax eloquent about the good old days when Congress worked for us: let us not forget Bobby Baker, who died on November 12 at age… Read More