The Rules Committee Matters

Don Wolfensberger at The Ripon Forum: In the mid-20th Century, a conservative coalition of southern Democrats and Republicans became a dominant ruling group in the House.  On the Rules Committee, two southern Democrats, “Judge” Howard Smith of Virginia and Bill Colmer...

Rules and the Defense Bill

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: Around the turn of this century we saw evolve a more partisan Congress with the prospect looming large every two years of either or both chambers flipping party control. In the case of the more stalwart committees like Armed Services,...

Congressional Pay

Paul Kane at WP: It’s been 15 years since members of the House and Senate allowed their federally mandated cost-of-living adjustment (often referred to as COLA) to take effect. Since then, their pay has been set at $174,000. Out of political fear from voters in both...