House of Representatives | Dreier Roundtable

A Week on the Floor

by jpitney | Jun 18, 2024 | Congress, Debate, Deliberation, House of Representatives

At The Washington Examiner, Ben Jacobs reports on covering the House floor for a week: It’s possible I picked a slow week. Perhaps if I sat through another week, I would witness important and substantive things happening. I doubt it, though. Instead, it often felt...

Absenteeism in the House

by jpitney | Jun 7, 2024 | Congress, House of Representatives

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: The importance of requiring members’ presence in the chamber to vote was highlighted last Wednesday when the House narrowly adopted a special rule (H. Res. 1243) making in order three measures for floor consideration that week. The vote...

House Republicans and House Rules

by jpitney | May 31, 2024 | Congress, House of Representatives

Jordain Carney at Politico: The governing-minded Main Street Caucus has formed an internal working group to come up with potential changes to the Republican Conference and House rules. The group of approximately 10 members is being led by Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.)....

Special Rules in the House

by jpitney | May 24, 2024 | Congress, House of Representatives

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: Of the 138 measures with special rules so far in this Congress, as of May 22, 49 (37 percent) make unreported measures in order. That compares to 27 percent in the 109th Congress (2005-06); 25 percent in the 114th Congress (2015-16);...

Bipartisan Green Shoots

by jpitney | May 21, 2024 | Bipartisanship, Congress, House of Representatives

Previous posts have discussed the “shadow Congress” or “secret Congress,” where lawmakers actually accomplish things. David Leonhardt at NYT: During the Covid pandemic, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together to pass emergency...