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Shutdowns and their discontents

April 9, 2019  ·  Josh Chafetz
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:       Josh Chafetz, Cornell Law School Reform:   Shutdowns and their discontents Almost no… Read More

Republicans go nuclear: An after action report

April 8, 2019  ·  James Wallner
Republicans in the Senate finally acted to change the rules to speed up the confirmation process for some presidential nominations. They used the nuclear option to shorten the amount of… Read More

Leadership development in Congress:  Background and proposals for reform

April 7, 2019  ·  Matthew Green, Douglas Harris
Please do not cite without permission of the authors. Executive Summary Both political parties in the U.S. House of Representatives follow several norms and informal practices that contribute to leadership… Read More

ICYMI: Top reads on Congress

April 5, 2019  ·  Marian Currinder
Niels Lesniewski, “‘Nuclear’ fallout in Senate might take some time to register,” Roll Call: “The Senate’s Geiger counters hardly registered Wednesday afternoon after the most recent deployments of the “nuclear option”… Read More

The good, the bad, and the ugly: House committee authorizations edition

April 4, 2019  ·  Casey Burgat
Follow the money. The  cliche is typically employed  by investigators looking to break a case. But the saying applies to Congress, as well. In order… Read More

Congressional capacity and reform: The role of staff

April 3, 2019  ·  Tracy Sulkin
To:             The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress From:       Tracy Sulkin, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Reform:   Congressional capacity and… Read More

Testimony: Congressional staff

April 2, 2019  ·  Casey Burgat
Written testimony of Casey Burgat Senior Governance Fellow, R Street Institute Before the House of Representatives Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee… Read More

Testimony: CRS has made great strides, but more improvement needed

April 2, 2019  ·  Kevin Kosar
Written testimony of Kevin R. Kosar Vice President of Policy, R Street Institute Before the House of Representatives Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee April 2, 2019 Thank you, Chairman Ryan, Ranking… Read More

Three ways Republicans can go nuclear

April 1, 2019  ·  James Wallner
Frustrated by how long it takes to confirm President Trump’s nominees, Republicans are accusing Democrats of dragging out unnecessarily the time permitted under the rules after the Senate has invoked… Read More

Republicans poised to nuke legislative filibuster

April 1, 2019  ·  James Wallner
In 2017, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged not to abolish the legislative filibuster. He did so to persuade his fellow Republicans to back his plan to use… Read More