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Optimizing the U.S. Congressional Calendar to Boost Legislative Productivity
Optimizing the U.S. Congressional Calendar to Boost Legislative Productivity

Source: Bipartisan Policy Center. J.D. Rackey et al., Optimizing the U.S. Congressional Calendar to Boost Legislative Productivity, Bipartisan Policy Center, October ...

October 28, 2024
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How Mitch McConnell Got His Job & What’s a Senate Leader Anyway?

https://youtu.be/G0jDQIVMsoc?si=6psXffMzq-PCEdxc This primer video helpfully explains how the selection process for the majority leader is selected, which is very different from ...

October 24, 2024
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Will Senators Hard-Bargain to Revive the Senate?
Will Senators Hard-Bargain to Revive the Senate?

Hello? Is there anyone here? The U.S. Senate chamber, 1891. Source: R.K. Bonine via the Library of Congress. Last month, Sen. George ...

October 18, 2024
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How senators can restore the world’s greatest deliberative body
How senators can restore the world’s greatest deliberative body

Senate pageboys celebrate adjournment in October, 1949, with good reason. The 80th Congress enacted more than 900 bills in a ...

October 7, 2024
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Hoover Institution and Sunwater Institute, Revitalizing the House Bipartisan Recommendations on Rules and Process
Hoover Institution and Sunwater Institute, Revitalizing the House Bipartisan Recommendations on Rules and Process

Hoover Institution and Sunwater Institute, Revitalizing the House Bipartisan Recommendations on Rules and Process, September 2024. This nonpartisan report recommends various ...

September 18, 2024
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An (Un)happy 50th Birthday for the Congressional Budget Process
An (Un)happy 50th Birthday for the Congressional Budget Process

President Joe Biden’s White House recently delivered to Congress its “Mid-Session Review” of the federal budget. The bottom line in this late July ...

September 2, 2024
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How Congress Lost, Part IV: Washington, Foreign Policy, and the Emergence of Presidential Governance
How Congress Lost, Part IV: Washington, Foreign Policy, and the Emergence of Presidential Governance

Jay Cost, How Congress Lost, Part IV: Washington, Foreign Policy, and the Emergence of PresidentialGovernance, American Enterprise Institute, August 2024. This ...

September 2, 2024
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How Congress Lost, Part III: Hamiltonian Energy and the Washington Administration
How Congress Lost, Part III: Hamiltonian Energy and the Washington Administration

Jay Cost, How Congress Lost, Part III: Hamiltonian Energy and the Washington Administration, American Enterprise Institute, June 2024. This report by ...

September 2, 2024
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Nixon Resigned Because He Lost Congress
Nixon Resigned Because He Lost Congress

First day of the House Judiciary Committee's formal impeachment hearings against President Nixon, May 9, 1974. Source: Wikipedia. Once President Joe Biden ...

September 2, 2024
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How Congress Lost, Part II: The Constitutional Presidency
How Congress Lost, Part II: The Constitutional Presidency

Jay Cost, How Congress Lost, Part II: The Constitutional Presidency, American Enterprise Institute, March 2024. This report by Jay Cost, the ...

July 12, 2024
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Picking the Wrong Fights: Why We Must Fix Our Broken Budget Process
Picking the Wrong Fights: Why We Must Fix Our Broken Budget Process

Philip Wallach, Picking the Wrong Fights: Why We Must Fix Our Broken Budget Process, American Enterprise Institute, March 2024. Key points: Deficits ...

July 4, 2024
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Americans dislike deficits and debt. So why don’t they vote that way?
Americans dislike deficits and debt. So why don’t they vote that way?

Annual deficits make for ever growing debt. Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve. Do voters punish politicians who increase budget deficits and ...

June 6, 2024
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Want government to work better? Then have it do fewer things.
Want government to work better? Then have it do fewer things.

Last month, President Joseph Biden announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles and some other items. His ...

June 4, 2024
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The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government
The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government

Fergus M. Bordewich, The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government ...

May 30, 2024
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What Is the Congressional Review Act?
What Is the Congressional Review Act?

The Congressional Review Act was enacted with bipartisan support in 1996. This statute establishes a process for Congress to ...

May 16, 2024
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What Is the Right of First Recognition in the Senate and Why Does It Matter?
What Is the Right of First Recognition in the Senate and Why Does It Matter?

Sen. Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), who stumbled then succeded in gaining the right of first recogniton in 1937. Source: Library ...

May 9, 2024
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Report of the Subcommittee on the Power of the Purse
Report of the Subcommittee on the Power of the Purse

Nolan McCarty et al., Report of the Subcommittee on the Power of the Purse, Princeton Initiative on Reclaiming the Constitutional ...

May 6, 2024
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Congress Is Weak Because Its Members Want It to Be Weak
Congress Is Weak Because Its Members Want It to Be Weak

Yuval Levin, "Congress Is Weak Because Its Members Want It to Be Weak," Commentary, July/August 2018. The title of this ...

May 2, 2024
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Yes, Congress Actually Is Doing Substantive Things
Yes, Congress Actually Is Doing Substantive Things

Source: MajorityLeader.gov. Yes, Congress has troubles. The budget process is in shambles. It suffers a surfeit of mindless partisanship. Our national ...

April 29, 2024
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The Discharge Petition: Its History and Role in the 118th Congress
The Discharge Petition: Its History and Role in the 118th Congress

Discharge Petition to Move the Civil Rights Bill Out of the Rules Committee, December 12, 1963. This petition failed to ...

April 29, 2024
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