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....
by jpitney | Aug 1, 2021 | Congress, Infrastruture, Senate
Carl Hulse at The New York Times: Everyone in Congress these days seems to believe everyone else is up to something. It is the legacy of the polarization and power plays that have robbed Congress of an essential ingredient to reaching big policy agreements. “Trust is...
by jpitney | Jun 2, 2021 | civic virtue, Civility, Senate
From Washington and Lee University: John W. Warner III ’49, distinguished former U.S. senator and trustee emeritus of Washington and Lee, died May 26, 2021. He was 94. “Sen. Warner’s decades-long public service to his country and alma mater exemplifies the attributes...
by jpitney | May 3, 2021 | Bipartisanship, Congress, House of Representatives, Senate, Uncategorized
The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University today jointly released their new Bipartisan Index rankings for the full 116th Congress (2019 – 2020). The non-partisan tool measures the degree to which Senators and...
by jpitney | Apr 8, 2021 | Congress, Senate
James Wallner at Legislative Procedure: There are several reasons why senators’ procedural independence declined beginning in the 1930. For example, New Deal legislation packed the Senate’s agenda and its members were spending less time on the floor beginning in this...
by jpitney | Mar 30, 2021 | Congress, Polarization, Senate
Mike Johnson: There is today a lot of flaming rhetoric heating up the debate over its future. Support and opposition flow back in forth between the parties, depending upon which is in the minority and which is in the majority. It’s the Democrats’ turn in opposition....