State of Partisanship
Can Boehner Be Removed From Office?
If Speaker Boehner allows the House to vote on a “clean” continuing resolution with the idea of allowing it to pass with a majority of Democratic votes, can he be removed as Speaker in the 113th Congress? As of this writing it appears that a government shutdown is inevitable. The only realistic, albeit remote possibility of
Update On Government Employee Benefit Loss
As I mused in my last post, one argument in Congress is not ONLY should Congressional staff receive a subsidy as they are moved out of FEHBP and into the Exchange, it has also become who else should be moved without an employer match. According to a recent Robert Wood Johnson survey, slightly
The House’s Competitiveness Problem… or Lack Thereof
Nathan Gonzales at Roll Call asks: “Are there really fewer competitive House districts than ever before?” The very short answer is “yes.” Today, there are fewer competitive districts than ever before. The trend is visible over the past 20 years but it is much more dramatic if we look at the past 50, or
Are “Gangs” the Solution?
Gangs of lawmakers have been making news since at least the 1983 reform of Social Security. The theory is that smaller, nimbler groups including members from both parties are more likely to get results on contentious issues. While in recent years gang activity in the Senate has proliferated, their record has been at best spotty.
The Boehner Rule: A Minority of the Majority?
What do the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Hurricane Sandy Relief Act, and the fiscal cliff deal have in common? All passed the House this year over the objection of a majority of the majority party. In bringing these bills to the House floor, Speaker John Boehner chose to willfully violate the “Hastert Rule”
Filibuster Rules Changes Epitomize the Senate
The more things change… The Senate has spoken—at length—and the result is…not much. This sentence could characterize the 112th Congress as well as the changes agreed to in Senate Resolution 16, the first roll call of the 113th (86 yeas, 9 nays). After months of the majority’s frustration with constant filibuster threats, impassioned pleas for
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