A Trick Rule

by | May 11, 2025 | Congress, House of Representatives

At The Hill, Don Wolfensberger explains the procedural trick by which House Republicans barred resolutions of inquiry: Last week a special rule was scheduled to consider just five matters, all resolutions to disapprove regulations promulgated during the Biden...

The Missing Branch

by | May 10, 2025 | Congress, House of Representatives, Senate

At The Atlantic, Yuval Levin writes that Congress was assertive in the 1980s and 1990s, but… The reasons for the subsequent decline in Congress’s stature and assertiveness are complex, but some of the very measures Gingrich took to consolidate power on Capitol...

Congress and Tariffs

by | Apr 28, 2025 | Congress, Economic Policy, Trade

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: The first tangible sign of bipartisan pushback to the president’s tariffs occurred in the Senate where Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a bill to undo the 25 percent tariff against Canadian goods. On April 3, that measure passed, 51-48,...

Bundling Special Rules

by | Apr 11, 2025 | Congress, House of Representatives

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: Back in the old days, if the House Rules Committee had four bills before it seeking a special rule for floor consideration, the committee would grant one special rule for each.  In modern times, the committee, in order to save on time...

The Test

by | Apr 3, 2025 | Congress, Debate, Debt, Deliberation

Mike Johnson (the former Michel guy, not the current speaker): The framers of the Constitution were in good measure geniuses who had a vision for the future and took lessons from the accomplishments and failures of the budding European democracies. That genius is not...