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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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How to Salvage Congress
How to Salvage Congress

Mike Gallagher, "How to Salvage Congress," The Atlantic, November 13, 2018. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) penned this essay not quite two ...

April 24, 2024
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The Case for Filibuster Reform
The Case for Filibuster Reform

Thomas Harvey and Thomas Koenig, "The Case for Filibuster Reform," National Affairs, 2023. The authors write: "The more conservatives support and help ...

April 23, 2024
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Being an Effective Lawmaker from Day One
Being an Effective Lawmaker from Day One

Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, Being an Effective Lawmaker from Day One (Center for Effective Lawmaking, 2022). Professors Craig Volden and ...

April 23, 2024
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What is the Motion to Vacate the Speaker of the House of Representatives?
What is the Motion to Vacate the Speaker of the House of Representatives?

A Speaker of the House vacated as imagined by DALL-E. The motion to vacate, as it is commonly called, is a ...

March 29, 2024
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Who Tends to Win Races for the Speakership of the House of Representatives?
Who Tends to Win Races for the Speakership of the House of Representatives?

Matthew Green is the coauthor (with Douglas Harris) of Choosing the Leader: Leadership Elections in the U.S. House of Representatives ...

March 27, 2024
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Why Do People Run for Congress?
Why Do People Run for Congress?

By John Haskell Members of Congress are on the go full-time and aren’t paid enough to qualify for a home loan ...

March 19, 2024
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Staffing Congress to Strengthen Oversight of the Administrative State
Staffing Congress to Strengthen Oversight of the Administrative State

A great deal of lawmaking occurs in the form of regulation. This paper observes that Congress has not given itself ...

March 11, 2024
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About Those GOP Legislators Quitting the House…
About Those GOP Legislators Quitting the House…

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) chairs the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party. He is a ...

February 28, 2024
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Reasserting Congress in Regulatory Policy
Reasserting Congress in Regulatory Policy

Kevin R. Kosar, "Reasserting Congress in Regulatory Policy," in Adam J. White, Oren Cass, and Kevin R. Kosar, Unleashing Opportunity: Policy ...

February 21, 2024
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Who Serves in Congress?
Who Serves in Congress?

Every two years brings a new Congress, and every two years the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service publishes a report detailing ...

February 19, 2024
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What Does It Mean to “Move the Previous Question”?

Source: C-SPAN. According to House Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures of the House, "The motion for the ...

February 13, 2024
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When Congress Comes Calling: A Study on the Principles, Practices, and Pragmatics of Legislative Inquiry
When Congress Comes Calling: A Study on the Principles, Practices, and Pragmatics of Legislative Inquiry

Morton Rosenberg, When Congress Comes Calling: A Study on the Principles, Practices, and Pragmatics of Legislative Inquiry (The Constitution Project, ...

February 12, 2024
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How Congress Lost, Part I: The Defeated Congress
How Congress Lost, Part I: The Defeated Congress

"Congress was intended to be the most important institution in our national government.... Congress’s centrality in American political life is ...

February 9, 2024
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How has the Speakership of the House of Representative Changed Over Time?
How has the Speakership of the House of Representative Changed Over Time?

Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1789-91 and 1793-95. Source: Wikipedia. The U.S. Constitution declares, "The House ...

February 7, 2024
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