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Restoring the Power of the Purse: Earmarks and Re-Empowering Legislators to Deliver Local Benefits
Restoring the Power of the Purse: Earmarks and Re-Empowering Legislators to Deliver Local Benefits

In recent years, various senators and representatives have discussed lifting Congress’ earmark moratorium. The practice of earmarking—or allowing legislators to ...

January 2, 2024
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How Can Congress’ Power Over of Foreign Be Strengthened?
How Can Congress’ Power Over of Foreign Be Strengthened?

Often it is assumed that the president should direct foreign affairs. he is the "commander-in-chief" and has the authority to ...

January 2, 2024
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A Primer Course on Legislative Procedure
A Primer Course on Legislative Procedure

The Congressional Research Service created a video series on legislative procedure in Congress. It is an easy-to-follow and authoritative explainer ...

January 2, 2024
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How Unorthodox Lawmaking Was Used to Raise the Debt Limit
How Unorthodox Lawmaking Was Used to Raise the Debt Limit

Source: Congress.gov. Democrats held the presidency and Senate, Republicans had a narrow Hosue majority. The nation's debt limit needed raised lest ...

January 2, 2024
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Why Reforming Senate Holds Can Benefit the Democratic Process
Why Reforming Senate Holds Can Benefit the Democratic Process

Source: Senate.gov. "While the Senate is often bound in arcane procedural knots, Senate holds are relatively straightforward. The Senate often does ...

January 1, 2024
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How a Bill Becomes a Law in the 21st Century
How a Bill Becomes a Law in the 21st Century

Source: YouTube.com Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) has a short and illuminating post on how he got a law enacted to create parental leave ...

January 1, 2024
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Could the Modern Senate Manage an Open-Amendment Process?
Could the Modern Senate Manage an Open-Amendment Process?

Americans who tune into C-SPAN to see the Senate at work may well be surprised by what they do not ...

January 1, 2024
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What is the Role of a Legislator in Congress?
What is the Role of a Legislator in Congress?

Source: House.gov. I taught a course on Congress to undergraduate students last year. After getting the students to share their concerns and dislikes about ...

January 1, 2024
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A Brief History of Congressional Staffing
A Brief History of Congressional Staffing

Congress needs staff to carry out the duties prescribed by the Constitution and demanded by the public. In this C-SPAN ...

January 1, 2024
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When Congress Had Its Own Dormitory
When Congress Had Its Own Dormitory

Source: House.gov "Until about 50 years ago, it was not uncommon for legislators to bunk under the same roof. In the ...

January 1, 2024
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The Congressional Budget Process Was Created to Solve 1970s Problems. Inadvertently It Caused New Problems
The Congressional Budget Process Was Created to Solve 1970s Problems. Inadvertently It Caused New Problems

"Anyone watching Congress trying to negotiate the U.S. budget might wonder who could possibly have designed such a process. Thanks ...

January 1, 2024
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Congress Overwhelmed: Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform
Congress Overwhelmed: Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform

Diagnoses of the troubles of Congress usually focus on the three P’s: people, parties, and polarization. Tim LaPira, Lee Drutman, and ...

January 1, 2024
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The Case for a Congressional Regulation Office
The Case for a Congressional Regulation Office

"[T]his has become Congress's standard operating procedure for regulatory policy in recent years: Drop a daring and attractive-sounding mandate that ...

January 1, 2024
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How to Strengthen Congress
How to Strengthen Congress

"The executive branch's growth in size and influence means more concentrated power and less democratic accountability. Each new exercise of ...

January 1, 2024
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Congress and National Cohesion
Congress and National Cohesion

"Having a national, geographically representative legislature often feels inevitable, but in historical fact, it is an arrangement that arose in ...

January 1, 2024
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Congress Indispensable
Congress Indispensable

"Properly understood, however, Congress is no anachronism. The very features that would-be reformers find most exasperating — its messiness, balkiness, and cacophony — are ...

January 1, 2024
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