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Which colleges and universities are tops in producing DC-based congressional staff?

September 11, 2019  ·  Casey Burgat
Source: Casey Burgat, LegBranch.org As the above flight path illustration shows, congressional staffers come from colleges all over the country. Each line represents a college who has produced a congressional… Read More

Explainer on the who, why, and what of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

September 10, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
Download the complete explainer here. Read More

How small is Congress relative to government?

September 9, 2019  ·  Casey Burgat
Source: Casey Burgat, LegBranch.org The upcoming issue of Extensions, a journal published by the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma, will present a symposium… Read More

Join us for an update on the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

September 6, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
Click to RSVP Join the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group (LBCWG) for a lively update and panel discussion on the work – thus far! – of the… Read More

APSA Task Force Memorandum: Congressional staffing diversity and retention

September 5, 2019  ·  Kathryn Pearson et al.
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:      Kathryn Pearson, Chair, University of Minnesota ; Casey Burgat, R Street Institute; Menna… Read More

Rules as constraints vs. rules as leverage

September 4, 2019  ·  James Wallner
One reason for the Senate’s present dysfunction is that its members interpret incorrectly how its rules operate in practice. Take, for example, two recent op-eds written by the… Read More

McConnell downplays Republicans’ use of the nuclear option

September 3, 2019  ·  James Wallner
Radical. That is how Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., describes the 2013 decision by his Democratic colleagues in the Senate to scrap the filibuster for all presidential nominations other than those for… Read More

ICYMI: Top reads on Congress

August 30, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
Richard Ahrenberg, “Strange bedfellows oppose the filibuster,” The Hill, August 24, 2019. “Such bipartisan resolve [to end the filibuster] might be welcome if the objective were not so misguided. Read More

Modernizing Congress: A conversation with Lorelei Kelly

August 29, 2019  ·  Lorelei Kelly
The Scholars Strategy network interviewed Lorelei Kelly, author of the report, Modernizing Congress: Bringing Democracy into the 21st Century. Click here to listen to the podcast or download… Read More

Neither Republicans nor Democrats respect Senate rules

August 28, 2019  ·  James Wallner
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, has a word of warning for Democrats: Don’t scrap the filibuster. In a recent op-ed, the Senate majority leader writes that his Democratic colleagues… Read More