The Senate Went Nuclear. Is the Filibuster on the Endangered List?
Enormous change to the Senate occurred today. By majority vote, the Senate moved to proceed on judicial and executive nominations, with the exception of Supreme Court nominations. What you… Read More
Do Veterans Decrease Polarization in Congress?
If the timing of this post doesn’t make it obvious, the use of “veteran” refers to lawmakers with prior military experience, not the length of one’s tenure… Read More
How Likely is an Overthrow of the Speaker?
In the wake of the CR and debt limit debates, some are asking if Boehner will lose his job. I have a post over at the GAI blog outlining… Read More
What’s Missing in the Polarization Debate? Congress.
Currently, the debate over American polarization is dominated by electoral considerations: gerrymandering, sorting, PACs, campaign finance, etc. Most of these arguments are based on underlying assumption that the American people,… Read More
Voting Against the Debt Limit Is for Losers!
Greg Koger at the political science blog Mischiefs of Faction has an interesting post this morning entitled “Fiscal Conservatism is for Losers.” In his post, Koger uses… Read More
Funding the Government, Defunding Obamacare, & Innovative Procedure
As Congress steps closer to the various fiscal cliffs over the next week, the pressing question for Republican leadership is how to defund Obamacare. Several Republicans have indicated they will… Read More
Simulating the Syria Resolution Vote in the Full Senate
Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-7 to approve President Obama’s request to conduct military strikes against Syria (one member of the committee–Ed Markey–courageously voted “present”). Read More
The House’s Competitiveness Problem… or Lack Thereof
At my other blog at the Government Affairs Institute, I have a post up on the increasing uncompetitiveness of U.S. House districts. There are signs that House elections may… Read More
Why Immigration Won’t be Discharged (Wonky)
Immigration reform is the issue that keeps finding its way into the news. After the Senate’s heroic efforts to find common ground on the bill, it’s seemingly inevitable demise in… Read More
How Can We Explain the Amash Vote to Defund the NSA?
A peculiar thing happened in the House last week. An amendment offered by Justin Amash (R-MI) narrowly failed on the floor, with a majority Democrats voting for the amendment (offered… Read More