118th Congress



The Debt Ceiling and the Appropriations Process

Katina Slavkova | May 3, 2023

The partisan and intra-branch posturing on the debt ceiling, on display since January, has finally yielded actual legislative text.  Last week Speaker Kevin McCarthy successfully shepherded his conference to pass a debt ceiling bill, accurately characterized as a “bare-minimum victory on a doomed bill.” This description of the House GOP’s initial bargaining offer perfectly


Back to the Future for Appropriations Procedures in the 118th Congress?

Matt Glassman | March 17, 2023

President Biden released the President’s Budget last week and with it, the federal appropriations process has lurched to a start.  In the modern era, we have come to expect to see late introduction of the President’s budget, forgoing passing a budget resolution by the budget committees (“deeming” them instead), and the failure to pass individual


Congress, Two Beers In | Rules, Budgets, Funding, and Stuff

Josh Huder | March 9, 2023

Mark, Matt, and Josh discuss special rules, leaders’ power, budgets, funding, McCarthy, the debt ceiling, and whatever else popped into Mark’s head.  


Hollow Promises: Speaker McCarthy and Appropriations

Josh Huder | February 3, 2023

As Kevin McCarthy brokered with conservatives to win the speakership, he made a series of promises to significantly revamp the budget and appropriations processes. Among them were commitments to pass a budget that balances in 10 years, consider and pass each appropriations bill individually (rather than in “minibus” or “omnibus” form), and provide members an


New Podcast Episode: 117th Congress Review and 118th Predictions

GAI | December 19, 2022

The Congress: Two Beers In crew ditch beer for bourbon as they discuss what happened in the 117th Congress. They also opine on the new Republican majority in the House, whether a Speaker will be elected on January 3, and the effects of an expanded Democratic majority in the Senate.