by jpitney | Jul 31, 2022 | Congress, Debate, Deliberation, Senate
Trent Lott and Tom Daschle at The Hill: First, the Senate should return to old norms for considering legislation. Filibusters, which date back to America’s earliest days, grew more common in the 19th and 20th centuries, prompting the Senate to adopt rules to end...
by jpitney | May 7, 2022 | Civility, Senate
At The Salt Lake Tribune, Brian Maffly reports on Orrin Hatch’s funeral: “Because of his deep-seated faith and belief in the goodness of humankind, he always reached out to those in need, whether they be powerful and wealthy or downtrodden and tempest-tossed. He...
by jpitney | Apr 28, 2022 | Bipartisanship, Civility, Congress, Senate
Sophia Cai at Axios: Amid bitter partisanship in the capital, rampant inflation across the country and a war raging in Ukraine, nearly two dozen women senators broke bread Tuesday night — and, Axios has learned, politics was decidedly off the menu. Why it...
by jpitney | Apr 24, 2022 | Civility, Congress, Senate
Orrin Hatch has died. From the AP obit: A conservative on most economic and social issues, he nonetheless teamed with Democrats several times during his long career on issues ranging from stem cell research to rights for people with disabilities to expanding...
by jpitney | Apr 13, 2022 | Congress, Debate, Deliberation, House of Representatives, Senate
Kevin Kosar at The Hill: . The citizen who dares to turn on C-SPAN 2 to watch our national representative democracy at work is all but certain to be disappointed. John Q. and Jane Q. Public will see committee hearings wherein legislators are bickering with one another...
by jpitney | Mar 9, 2022 | Bipartisanship, Congress, Senate
Emily Cochrane at NYT: Congress gave final approval on Tuesday to the most sprawling overhaul of the Postal Service in nearly two decades, sending President Biden legislation intended to return the beleaguered agency to solvency and address pandemic-era mail delays....
