by jpitney | Mar 31, 2020 | Congress, Constitution, House of Representatives, Uncategorized
In 2003, Rep. David Dreier explained why we should fill mass vacancies in the House through expedited special elections, not appointment: I think that Chairman Sensenbrenner has very ably focused on two of the authors of the Federalist, James Madison and Alexander...
by jpitney | Mar 24, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, House of Representatives
The House Rules Committee has a new staff report on voting options: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rules Committee has heard from Members who want to come back to Washington and vote on critical legislation, and Members who want to implement remote...
by jpitney | Mar 16, 2020 | Congress, House of Representatives, Technology
At LegBranch.org, Joshua Huder acknowledges that the House might have to use remote voting in emergencies, but argues that it should not become routine. Most proposals would limit remote voting to “noncontroversial” measures–basically, bills considered under...
by jpitney | Mar 1, 2020 | House of Representatives, Technology
Claire Abernathy, Kevin Esterling, and Marci Harris at LegBranch.org: As a complex, distributed system of 441 individual offices, 20 committees, two party leadership offices, and a dozen or so administrative and research support agencies, House technology has,...
by jpitney | Dec 25, 2019 | Congress, Dreier, House of Representatives, Uncategorized
Representative David Dreier (R-California), chair of the House Rules Committee, announced early in 2012 that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term. Although it is common to criticize the institution, Dreier went out of his way to praise it: Now,...
by jpitney | Dec 20, 2019 | Civility, Congress, House of Representatives, Polarization
On Thursday Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (“Select Committee”) passed its third round of bipartisan recommendations: “Since this committee was created, our mission has been to craft bipartisan solutions to make Congress work better for the people...
