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Carving up discretionary dollars: The work of the 12 Appropriations subcommittees
Carving up discretionary dollars: The work of the 12 Appropriations subcommittees

Every year, Congress faces a massive challenge: how to divide up roughly $1.5 trillion in discretionary federal spending across thousands ...

August 27, 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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Congress’s ironic enfeeblement
Congress’s ironic enfeeblement

It is an honor to respond to my colleague Philip Wallach’s comprehensive and depressingly persuasive overview of the self-inflicted irrelevance of Congress. ...

August 15, 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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Congress in plain English: Gerrymandering
Congress in plain English: Gerrymandering

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the parties are playing hardball. Texas Republicans have convened a special session of their ...

August 12, 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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Pocket rescissions: Legal controversy and political meaning
Pocket rescissions: Legal controversy and political meaning

The Republican-controlled Congress recently passed a $9 billion rescission law, canceling a significant chunk of foreign aid spending and about $1 ...

August 6, 2025
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The Senate’s essential referees
The Senate’s essential referees

I began my career in the Senate chamber as a page, the junior-most staff member in the body. From the ...

August 5, 2025
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Choosing congressional irrelevance
Choosing congressional irrelevance

On February 7, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado offered the following advice on X: “Dear Speaker Johnson, Simply pass every executive order ...

August 4, 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 in plain English: Why does Congress take a summer break?
Congress in plain English: Why does Congress take a summer break?

The House of Representatives recessed on Wednesday this week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made this move to head off a ...

July 23, 2025
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law quickly. Here’s why.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law quickly. Here’s why.

Donald J. Trump, signing ceremony for the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, July 4, 2025. Source: White House Instagram. On ...

July 15, 2025
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Icons of Congress: James Madison — The First Majority Leader
Icons of Congress: James Madison — The First Majority Leader

In his 1836 eulogy of James Madison, John Quincy Adams called the late president the “Father of the Constitution.” It ...

July 9, 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, Iran, and the Constitution
Trump, Iran, and the Constitution

As a constitutional matter, was President Trump required to have congressional authorization before he militarily struck Iran’s nuclear facilities? The ...

June 24, 2025
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Congress in Plain English: The War Power
Congress in Plain English: The War Power

President Donald Trump's recent authorization of the use of “bunker-buster” bombs against Iranian nuclear facilities has touched off a debate ...

June 24, 2025
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Congress in Plain English: Budget Reconciliation
Congress in Plain English: Budget Reconciliation

Congress continues to debate the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda for his ...

June 16, 2025
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What members of Congress are saying about Trump vs. Musk and the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”
What members of Congress are saying about Trump vs. Musk and the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”

Clash of the titans. Source: Google Gemini. On May 28, Elon Musk, de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency ...

June 11, 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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