Video of meeting on appropriations and regular order
At the October 2017 meeting of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, Casey Burgat, Lee Drutman, Peter Hanson, and James Wallner examined and interpreted calls for “regular order” in the appropriations… Read More
How a Rump of Renegade Republican Senators Could Restore Regular Order
The gentlemen from Arizona, with a hand from Sen. Susan Collins, could turn the chamber upside down. Lee Drutman writes at Vox: If Sen. McCain is truly serious about bringing… Read More
Video of Meeting On: Does Congress Have the Capacity it Needs to Conduct Oversight?
Envisioned by the founders as the “first” branch of government, Congress has the responsibility of overseeing and managing the other two arms of our constitutional system. And yet, as the… Read More
ICYMI: Group Strives to “Make Congress Great Again”
Photo credit: Tom WIlliams/CQ Roll Call Congressional Quarterly/Roll Call published a very fine article on the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group. You may read it at http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/group-strives-make-congress-great… Read More
Leadership, Legislation, and Secrecy
Photo credit: House.appropriations.gov At Vox, Lee Drutman writes: “Over the past day or so, House Democrats, journalists, and a handful of very conservative Republicans been fulminating over the secretive… Read More
Can Congress Do Its Job?
Lee Drutman writes: “[O]ver the years, and particularly over the past few decades, Congress has ceded more and power to the executive. Admittedly, it has done some of this… Read More
Video of Meeting: “Does Congress Have the Technology It Needs to Govern?”
The Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group met in the U.S. Capitol on January 17, 2017 to discuss Congress and technology. The speakers were: Kevin R. Kosar, R Street Institute… Read More
Can Our Political Institutions Handle Our Political Divisions?
New America’s Lee Drutman has a new white paper out. He writes: The United States is a politically divided nation. These divisions have only grown deeper in the past… Read More
Does Congress Want to Govern?
Over the past year, leading members of Congress have delivered some stirring mea culpas about the demise of the First Branch of Government. Speaker Ryan’s “A Better Way” agenda… Read More
Overseeing the Executive: Does Congress Have Sufficient Staff?
Lee Drutman, co-director of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, writes on Vox: So what accounts for the Senate’s almost 30-year drought of “notable investigations”? The most obvious explanation… Read More