by jpitney | Sep 8, 2020 | Congress, Oversight, Presidency, Separation of Powers
Molly E. Reynolds at Lawfare: Often, proposals to increase Congress’s capacity to oversee the executive branch fall victim to partisanship, with members of the president’s party being reluctant to support reforms that limit his power. Importantly, however, several of...
by jpitney | Aug 26, 2020 | Bipartisanship, Congress, Oversight, Separation of Powers
Molly E. Reynolds at Lawfare: Often, proposals to increase Congress’s capacity to oversee the executive branch fall victim to partisanship, with members of the president’s party being reluctant to support reforms that limit his power. Importantly, however, several of...
by jpitney | Aug 21, 2020 | Congress, Deliberation, Foreign Policy, House of Representatives, Military, Oversight, Senate
At R Street, Casey Burgat looks at congressional oversight capacity on national security and foreign affairs. Here he examines the House Committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, and Armed Services. [D]espite regular increases from 2003 through...
by jpitney | Aug 15, 2020 | Bipartisanship, Congress, Oversight
Jim Townsend and Elise Bean at LegBranch.org: The Lincoln Network, R Street Institute, and others have laid out a number of proposals to address Congress’ pressing staff problems. These recommendations include increasing Legislative Branch appropriations, improving...
by jpitney | Apr 29, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Oversight
Yuval Levin and Yuval Levin and Adam J. White at National Review: [L]egislators should be prepared to take smaller steps by both authorizing and appropriating emergency government actions as required. Rather than assume that the president has the power he needs to...
by jpitney | Apr 11, 2020 | Congress, Foreign Policy, Oversight
Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch have an article at Foreign Policy titled “Pandemic Stymies Congressional Check on Trump’s Foreign Policy.” An excerpt: Public health guidance has prevented lawmakers in particular from receiving classified briefings—normally...
