by jpitney | Mar 13, 2021 | Civility, Congress, Senate
James Hohmann at WP: Several years ago, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) spotted the bust of a man on top of a bookcase in the Capitol. It had no label, and congressional historians were unable to discern the identity of the mystery man, beyond determining that he was a cleric...
by jpitney | Feb 21, 2021 | Congress, Constitution, Deliberation, House of Representatives, Senate
Yuval Levin at National Review: If the problem to be solved is that cross-partisan agreement is necessary for Congress to legislate but such agreement is very rare now, then there are broadly two sorts of possible paths toward reform: You could look for ways to make...
by jpitney | Feb 16, 2021 | Congress, House of Representatives, Senate
Tara Golshan and Kevin Robillard at HuffPo report that congressional Democrats are planning to revive earmarks. “Chair DeLauro supports Member-directed funding for community projects,” said Evan Hollander, a spokesperson with the House Appropriations Committee, which...
by jpitney | Feb 8, 2021 | Congress, Impeachment, Senate
by jpitney | Aug 29, 2020 | Deliberation, Senate
James Wallner at LegBranch.org: Today’s opponents of the filibuster share a distorted view of the Senate. They see it as a factory whose purpose is to produce legislative widgets. Senators become, in their minds, craftsmen who apply technical knowledge to make those...
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...
