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The first session of the 118th Congress was historically unproductive. Only 35 measures were signed into law, with only the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Defense Authorization Act of significant note. Several major items on the agenda—border security, foreign aid, tax extenders—saw no floor action, while others—the Farm bill, FAA
Last week, Freedom Caucus members blocked another a series of spending bills from reaching the House floor. Their opposition has stymied Speakers McCarthy and Johnson alike, forcing them to rely on Democratic votes to pass continuing resolutions and other must-pass legislation. These repeated failures raise questions about the possibility of
After a chaotic and historically unproductive first session, the 118th Congress appears to be off to a more hopeful start in the new year. Recent news indicating congressional leaders have finally secured an agreement on the top-line numbers for funding the federal government for the remainder of FY24 is certainly
Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown Saturday when Speaker McCarthy shocked Capitol Hill and expedited a clean continuing resolution on the House Floor, funding the government at current levels for 45 days, against the wishes of hardliners in his conference. The bill passed easily on bipartisan lines, was quickly taken
In Federalist 78, published in the spring of 1788, Alexander Hamilton famously referred to the judiciary as “the least dangerous” branch of the federal government. A fair question 235 years later is whether it has become the least accountable branch, at least at the top level. Unlike lower-court judges and
By Matthew Green, Professor, Department of Politics (The Catholic University of America) The past seven months have made it abundantly clear that the House speakership is one of the most difficult jobs in Washington. In January, for the first time in a century, the majority party’s nominee for speaker –
Normally, we remember what we were doing when great triumphs or tragedies take place on the world stage. Fiscal policy is not typically on that list of events. And yet, I remember clearly what I was doing in the lead up to Treasury’s “X date” in 2011. I was in
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
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
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”
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