Kevin R. Kosar

Trump Signs Minibus Spending Bill with $6.5 Billion in Earmarks
Trump Signs Minibus Spending Bill with $6.5 Billion in Earmarks

President Donald Trump recently signed $174.7 billion spending legislation. The White House said little upon signing the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior ...

February 6, 2026
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The Federal Government Booked a $1.8 Trillion Deficit Last Year
The Federal Government Booked a $1.8 Trillion Deficit Last Year

President Donald Trump’s first year of his second, nonconsecutive term brought all sorts of changes. His administration shuttered the United States Agency ...

January 30, 2026
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What’s Wrong with Congress?
What’s Wrong with Congress?

The 119th Congress returned to the U.S. Capitol recently. They have an immense amount of work to get done, policy ...

January 27, 2026
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Legislative Tool to Circumvent House Leadership Gets Biggest Win Yet on Obamacare Subsidies Vote
Legislative Tool to Circumvent House Leadership Gets Biggest Win Yet on Obamacare Subsidies Vote

Congress returned to work in Washington, and one of the first issues lawmakers addressed was government health insurance subsidies. These temporary, ...

January 18, 2026
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Term Limits Will Not Make Congress Work Better
Term Limits Will Not Make Congress Work Better

A poll in Des Mines, Iowa, November 2022. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Phil Roeder. Few would seriously argue that Congress today is ...

December 19, 2025
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House Republicans Want to Show Voters They Can Get Things Done. Can They?
House Republicans Want to Show Voters They Can Get Things Done. Can They?

The House has spent much of the last two months of this year trying to catch up on its work. It passed 22 ...

December 15, 2025
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Senate and Trump on a Collision Course Over the Leadership of the GAO
Senate and Trump on a Collision Course Over the Leadership of the GAO

Gene L. Dodaro is not a household name. He is a mild-mannered man who is rarely seen without a necktie and ...

November 14, 2025
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The Speaker’s Authority to Convene and Adjourn the House
The Speaker’s Authority to Convene and Adjourn the House

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) hands the Speaker's gavel to Mike Johnson (R-LA) on October 25, 2023. Source: C-SPAN. By Max ...

November 13, 2025
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Aaron Wildavsky’s Anti–Government Shutdown Plan
Aaron Wildavsky’s Anti–Government Shutdown Plan

Worries about Congress’s capacity to carry out its constitutional duties are not new. In 1965, leaders of the American Enterprise ...

October 21, 2025
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After Decades of Red Ink, a Fresh Push for a Balanced Budget Amendment Emerges
After Decades of Red Ink, a Fresh Push for a Balanced Budget Amendment Emerges

The U.S government’s debt hit $37.6 trillion on Sept. 30, the end of the most recent fiscal year. To put ...

October 17, 2025
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How Often Does Congress Enact All 12 Spending Bills Before the End of the Fiscal Year?
How Often Does Congress Enact All 12 Spending Bills Before the End of the Fiscal Year?

Source: USAFacts.org The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires Congress to pass twelve appropriations bills before the September ...

September 30, 2025
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State of the Congress 2024: An Assessment of the Civility, Functionality, and Capacity of the 118th Congress by Senior Congressional Staff
State of the Congress 2024: An Assessment of the Civility, Functionality, and Capacity of the 118th Congress by Senior Congressional Staff

Kathy Goldschmidt, State of the Congress 2024: An Assessment of the Civility, Functionality, and Capacity of the 118th Congress by ...

September 19, 2025
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Trump Attempts Pocket Rescission to Cut $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid
Trump Attempts Pocket Rescission to Cut $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid

President Donald Trump recently moved to cancel $4.9 billion in spending on foreign aid, the latest skirmish in the battle for control ...

September 19, 2025
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Senate Appropriators Reject House Cuts to Congressional Funding for Capitol Hill Operations
Senate Appropriators Reject House Cuts to Congressional Funding for Capitol Hill Operations

Before leaving Washington for the August recess, the Senate advanced the annual legislative branch spending bill. The measure proposes $4.97 billion in spending on ...

August 22, 2025
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Soren Dayton and Josiah Watney, Making the Rules of the House: How Factional Politics Overcame the Rules Committee in the Past
Soren Dayton and Josiah Watney, Making the Rules of the House: How Factional Politics Overcame the Rules Committee in the Past

Soren Dayton and Josiah Watney, Making the Rules of the House: How factional politics overcame the Rules Committee in the ...

August 14, 2025
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Bipartisan Policy Center, Legislating After Loper: Practical Solutions for a Post-Chevron Congress
Bipartisan Policy Center, Legislating After Loper: Practical Solutions for a Post-Chevron Congress

Bipartisan Policy Center, Legislating After Loper, March 2025. In March 2025, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Working Group on Congress, Courts, and ...

August 11, 2025
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Reports of The Princeton Initiative on Restoring the Constitutional Powers of Congress
Reports of The Princeton Initiative on Restoring the Constitutional Powers of Congress

Mickey Edward, ed., Reports of The Princeton Initiative on Restoring the Constitutional Powers of Congress, Princeton School of Public and ...

August 3, 2025
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Congress passes spending cuts — but the small savings may make for bigger budgeting troubles
Congress passes spending cuts — but the small savings may make for bigger budgeting troubles

Something remarkable occurred on Capitol Hill this month: Congress and the president partnered to make a law that cut the budgets of ...

July 26, 2025
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Congress tries to ban insider trading by its members
Congress tries to ban insider trading by its members

Media stories erupted recently about Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) financial dealings. “Stock market watchdog claims Nancy Pelosi raked in $4.7M in a single ...

July 7, 2025
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Trump and Congress clash over who has final say on the Library of Congress
Trump and Congress clash over who has final say on the Library of Congress

Who is in charge of the Library of Congress: Congress or the president? Until recently, the settled answer in Washington was ...

June 6, 2025
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