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....
by jpitney | Jan 22, 2022 | Congress, Elections, House of Representatives, Senate
Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: What has been overlooked in media accounts, amidst all the speechifying, caucusing and presidential jawboning over voting rights, is the roundabout way the issue was being forced in both houses, using the drastic tactic of attaching an...
by jpitney | Jan 20, 2022 | Congress, House of Representatives, Senate, Violence
Jim Saksa at Roll Call: CQ Roll Call asked every member of Congress whether they had received a death threat since 2020. Of the 147 who responded, 110 — or about 75 percent — said yes. While more Democrats replied to our inquiry than Republicans, 95 to 52, death...
by jpitney | Jan 5, 2022 | Congress, Deliberation, Senate
James Wallner at R Street Institute reflects on Harry Reid: Reid’s skill as a leader allowed him to essentially eliminate genuine deliberation on the Senate floor while ensuring that the Senate still legislated, a balancing act that his successors have struggled to...
by jpitney | Dec 29, 2021 | Civility, Congress, House of Representatives, Senate
I am sad tonight but grateful for the friendship I had with Harry. We disagreed on many things, sometimes famously. But we were always honest with each other. In the years after we left public service, that honesty became a bond. Harry was a fighter until the end....
