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We are living in interesting times. In order to bring you more insight on the issues of the day, we thought we’d send out a sampling of what we’re reading in the office. There’s a lot going on in addition to the recent budget developments that Josh Huder ably covers
House and Senate leaders pushed through an omnibus spending package last week. The bill combines 11 appropriations bills for the final months of the FY2017 calendar. Democrats walked away with some big wins in the omnibus. They struck over 100 policy riders, resisted non-defense cuts proposed by President Trump, and
Tax reform, particularly genuinely comprehensive tax reform, seems to be the great white whale of American politics. Given that it tends to occur once a generation, the smart money is always on betting on the reform du jour failing. And yet, confident rumblings have yet again surfaced–from Speaker Ryan and
The 114th Congress was a whirlwind of activity compared to its predecessors. Accomplishments like trade promotion authority, a Medicare “doc-fix” solution, a two-year budget deal, and the highway funding act were legislative highlights in a productive first session. In all, the 114th Congress passed 115 laws, the most in a
On Wednesday last week the House passed its version of the FY16 budget resolution; and on early Friday morning the Senate passed its version. Modern budget resolutions are highly partisan vehicles, so one would assume that they’d pass easily in each chamber. And with one party in control of both
Can decades of dysfunction reverse course in a single Congress? No. But despite the general pessimism surrounding Congress there are several reason to expect the 114th to be more productive than its recent predecessors, which were historically bad on several fronts. Now that divided congressional control is over a sense
The Supreme Court handed President Obama a defeat in NLRB v. Noel Canning this week, declaring that Obama’s three appointments to the NLRB made during “recesses” between pro-forma sessions the Senate convened every three days were clearly unconstitutional. If the Senate says it’s in session—even pro-forma—then it’s in session, and
Ashley Parker and Jonathan Martin have an excellent piece in The New York Times on the changing demographics of voters in suburban districts and how that led to primary defeats of Sen. Thad Cochran in Mississippi (now in a runoff) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia. I think
The Washington Post’s Wonkblog had a write up on congressional productivity not long ago. Its central thesis is Congress is more productive in election years than in non-election years. This is a good counter-intuitive point. Many pundits discuss congressional productivity only in terms of major bills passed. However, Congress often
Ian Millhiser has a very good piece on judicial nominations and blue slips over at Think Progress. It covers a lot of ground and is a wonderful read. However, I do have some bones to pick with his take. At the core of Millhiser’s argument are blue slips and their
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