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Mitch McConnell said the 115th Congress was ‘the best,’ but it’s more dysfunctional than ever
A top spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., summed up the legislative achievements of the Republican-controlled 115th Congress as such: “The most accomplished Congress in decades.” McConnell … Read More
ICYMI: Top reads on Congress
G. William Hoagland, “The shutdown horror show was bad, but beware the reruns,” Roll Call: “The latest shutdown has been a lesson in how each side needs something to… Read More
Packing Supreme Court with more seats does nothing for democracy
With control of the House for the first time since 2011, Democrats have proposed a number of legislative initiatives, including ways to reform the federal judiciary. Indeed, following the confirmation… Read More
OK, so the House wants to reform itself? Here’s what it should really do.
Early this month, on the opening day of the 116th Congress, something unusual happened: The House of Representatives took a step to reform itself. Legislators approved a package… Read More
Republicans propose using standing order to nuke Senate rules
Senate Republicans are threatening to go nuclear if Democrats do not support a deal to lower the maximum amount of debate time that presidential nominations can receive after cloture is… Read More
How House committees get their money
Committee funding in the House of Representatives is accomplished through a somewhat quirky process. Appropriators in the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Committee set a top dollar amount for the committees… Read More
Partisan competition is not the cause of Congress’s dysfunction
Speaking at the annual meeting of Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa society in 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson maintained that it was the scholar’s duty to show people “facts amidst appearances.”… Read More
ICYMI: Top reads on Congress
Carl Hulse and Emily Cochrane, “McConnell and Pelosi Have a Fraught Relationship. The Shutdown Hasn’t Helped,” New York Times: “The two congressional leaders are ideological opposites who are… Read More
McConnell-Schumer agreement attempts to block unauthorized action
Last year, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced shortly before the Senate adjourned for the holidays that he and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY., agreed that the… Read More
Trump’s shutdown tactics borrow from the Freedom Caucus
When President Donald Trump declared last month that he was willing to risk a partial government shutdown to secure funding for a wall on the southern US border, most… Read More