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Will Some House Democrats Face Ethics Reviews?

June 30, 2016  ·  LegBranch Team
Source: The Atlantic . USA Today reports: “An independent watchdog group is filing an ethics complaint against several House Democrats for violating House rules last week during lawmakers’ 25-hour sit-in… Read More

House Pay Increase Will Amount to Less Than $1,000 Per Staffer

June 30, 2016  ·  Kevin Kosar
RollCall.com reports: “House lawmakers are intent on giving staff members a raise in 2017, concerned that low pay and long hours are contributing to an unprecedented congressional brain drain. Read More

James Wallner’s “Unprecedented: Informal Rules and Leader Power in the United States Senate”

June 30, 2016  ·  Adam Chan
James Wallner’s white paper, “Unprecedented: Informal Rules and Leader Power in the United States Senate,” analyzes how Senate majority leadership uses amendment proposal precedents to control Senate deliberation. Read More

A Framework for Congressional Staffing: A Few Thoughts from Management Consulting

June 28, 2016  ·  Brian Alexander
The question of “is Congress well-staffed?” can be approached just as any staffing problem is approached across the federal government and the private sector, by answering this question: What is the… Read More

Notes from the June 20, 2016 Meeting on the Topic of Congressional Staff

June 28, 2016  ·  LegBranch Team
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

So What if Congressional Staff Levels are Declining?

June 27, 2016  ·  Tim LaPira and Herschel Thomas
Following Daniel Schuman’s presentation to the Legislative Branch Capacity Working group on June 20, R Street Institute’s Kevin Kosar posted a series of informative charts measuring congressional staff… Read More

Majority Leader McConnell: How the Senate Is Supposed to Work

June 22, 2016  ·  Kevin Kosar
U.S. Senate 1880s. Source: U.S. Senate Historical Office Majority leader McConnell wrote for the May 30, 2016 copy of the Wall Street Journal a piece titled, “How the Senate Is… Read More

New Survey: Americans Divided Over Why They Dislike Congress

June 21, 2016  ·  Adam Chan
Source: Congressional Institute. The public’s approval of Congress has fallen in the past decade, but the reasons for this decline are nuanced and varied. The Congressional Institute, a… Read More

How Many House and Senate Leadership Staff Are There?

June 21, 2016  ·  Kevin Kosar
House Leadership Staff, 1987-2014 Graphic by the R Street Institute based upon Congressional Research Service data.   Senate Leadership Staff, 1987-2014 Graphic by the R Street Institute based upon Congressional… Read More

How Many House and Senate Committee Staff Are There?

June 21, 2016  ·  LegBranch Team
House Committee Staff Levels, 1987-2014 Graphic by the R Street Institute based upon Congressional Research Service data.   Senate Committee Staff Levels, 1987-2014 Graphic by the R Street Institute based… Read More