Dick Cheney in Congress

by | Nov 4, 2025 | Congress, House of Representatives, Leadership

 Former Vice President Dick Cheney died last night.  In 2004, Bill Connelly and Jack Pitney reflected on their experiences with him as Congressional Fellows in his House Republican leadership office. Some of the literature tries to reduce legislative leadership to...

Not Your Founders’ Senate

by | Oct 31, 2025 | Congress, Senate, Separation of Powers

Don Wolfensberger writes that there are four key things to consider in determining how much the Senate has deviated from its originally planned track. First, the Senate is not, as it might claim, the world’s greatest deliberative body. Deliberation has gone the way of...

Maggie Hassan

by | Oct 20, 2025 | Congress, Disabilities, Senate

Zachary Schermele at  USA TODAY: For New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, it felt personal watching more than 120 jobs tied to special education disappear during the U.S. government shutdown.   President Donald Trump ordered massive layoffs across the federal...

Unorthodox Lawmaking and the Budget Process

by | Oct 17, 2025 | Budget, Congress

Kevin Kosar: Sometimes Congress does not bother to adopt a budget resolution. Legislators rarely enact individual spending bills. Instead, they ball them up into omnibus spending packages or pass continuing resolutions. Reconciliation has devolved into a vehicle for...