Are Congressional Term Limits a Bad Idea?
Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America and co-director of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, certainly thinks so. He writes in a recent Vox column: In one recent… Read More
Experts Call Upon Senate to Stabilize Committee Staff
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, United States Senate The Honorable Harry Reid, United States Senate The Honorable John Cornyn, United States Senate The Honorable Dick Durbin, United States Senate October 18, 2016… Read More
Video: Meeting to Discuss Whether the Office of Technology Assessment Should Be Revived
The speakers at this October 19, 2016 meeting of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group were: Kevin R. Kosar, R Street Institute John Costello, TechCongress Adam Keiper,… Read More
Is the House of Representatives Legislating In the Dark?
In this short audio interview, Professor James Curry (University of Utah) explains how limited resources have enabled party leaders to write and negotiate most laws in Congress. Lacking… Read More
APSA White Papers on Congressional Capacity
Every chair was filled at the American Political Science Association panel discussing congressional capacity. The papers delivered were: Anthony Madonna and Ian Ostrander, “A Congress of Cannibals: The Evolution… Read More
Why Has Congress Become More Chaotic?
Source: Kevin R. Kosar Jonathan Rauch‘s “How American Politics Went Insane” has drawn much commentary. Rauch argues that Congress is struggling to organize itself, and that a major cause… Read More
Notes from the June 20, 2016 Meeting on the Topic of Congressional Staff
More than 50 persons attended the meeting in the Capitol Visitors Center. The meeting’s topic was congressional staff, and Daniel Schuman of DemandProgress presented data that showed reductions in… Read More
Survey Results: Congress Is Not Well Equipped to Do Its Job
We received 45 responses to our survey on legislative branch capacity. The figures below display the aggregate responses, which came from Hill staff and close watchers of Congress. Figure… Read More
Academic Panel On Congressional Capacity
Lee Drutman and Kevin Kosar, the co-directors of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, will be on a panel titled “Assessing Congress’ Capacity to Solve Problems.” This will occur… Read More
Spending on Congressional Staff Is Less Than Lobbying Expenditures
“The entire House and Senate combined now spend less on staff ($2 billion a year) than corporations spend on reported lobbying ($2.6 billion a year). But since that reported… Read More