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Watch Tuesday’s Meeting Live Online at 12pm (EDT)
We are livestreaming the July 26 meeting of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group at https://plus.google.com/events/c1rtks4h3mmcskj6h9g05ma31t8. The topic is “CRS in the 21st Century” and we have posted… Read More
Senate Appropriators FY2017 Language on the Congressional Research Service
The May 19, 2016, Senate Appropriations Committee’s report carries this language regarding the Congressional Research Service. Congressional Research Servicesalaries and expenses Appropriations, 2016……………………………… $106,945,000Budget… Read More
The Congressional Tendency to Cannibalize Itself
Source: Profs. Tim LaPira and Herschel Thomas Why is Congress loath to increase its staff, and sometimes eager to cut it? Professors Anthony J. Madonna and Ian Ostrander… Read More
RSVP for the July 26, 2016 Meeting
The Madison Building, which houses CRS. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:UpstateNYer To reserve a seat, surf to https://thecongressionalresearchservic.splashthat.com/ The meeting’s topic is: a Congressional Research Service for the 21st century. The Congressional Research… Read More
Should We Bring Back Earmarks?
Source: Citizens Against Government Waste, http://www.cagw.org/ Earmarks have been denounced as both wasteful and corrupt. Shortly before becoming Speaker, John Boehner declared, “Earmarks have become a symbol of a… Read More
Save the Date: Next Meeting Is Tuesday, July 26 at 12pm
Please hold the date for the next meeting of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group. We will meet on Tuesday, July 26 from 12 to 1:30pm in the… 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
Not Only America: Canada’s Legislature Begins to Strengthen Itself
Source: http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/ Guest blog post by Sean Speer, R Street Institute Last month’s Supreme Court decision on President Obama’s unilateral immigration directive was a positive development for those determined… Read More
Is the House of Representatives Deinstitutionalizing?
The 114th Congress in the House chamber. Source: Wikipedia Jeffery A. Jenkins’ and Charles Stewart III’s recently presented an important paper, “The Deinstitutionalization (?) of the… Read More
Jonathan Rauch On Congress and Chaos
The Brookings Institution’s Jonathan Rauch has an article garnering much attention: “How American Politics Went Insane” (The Atlantic, July/August 2016). He writes: “Chaos syndrome is a chronic decline in the… Read More