Penn Washington News & Comment
Whom to blame for shutdown? All 535 members of Congress
In his recent opinion piece for Roll Call, Penn Washington Senior Fellow Steven Pearlstein rejects the partisan finger-pointing and instead blames all members of Congress for choosing political gamesmanship over…
Trump Plan for a Second Putin Meeting Undercuts Ukraine Push
In a recent article in Bloomberg, Celeste Wallander, the Executive Director of Penn Washington, cautioned that without a plan from the White House to impose costs on Russia, a second…
Shutdown serves as exhibit A into why Congress does not work
We are now in the second week of another government closure and there should be no doubt about its root cause: that members of Congress pay no political penalty for…
Has Congressional Failure Reached a Tipping Point?
Has Congress now fallen so far into dysfunction that its Members are ready to do something about it? That is the question posed by three excellent columns that have appeared…
The inescapable answer to America’s problems? Fix Congress
The always perspicacious Jonah Goldberg has a new column at The Dispatch, which he edits, that could easily serve as the mission statement for Fixing Congress. “The abdication of…
Penn Washington names Celeste Wallander as inaugural executive director
This story was originally published on April 29, 2025 in Penn Today Wallander will assume leadership and operational management of Penn Washington, and its mission and bridge Penn research with policy discussions…
Opinion: A third way for congressional Democrats
Some Democrats believe the only viable strategy for slowing and eventually halting the Trump steamroller is all-out resistance on every issue in every forum. Others prefer giving Trump plenty of…
Top GOP aide tells Members of Congress: Start doing your jobs!
Brendan Buck, a top aide to former Republican Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, posted an eloquent essay in the New York Times today recounting the many ways in which…
Cabinet confirmations just the latest example of Members surrendering responsibility and power
Many Americans have been shocked recently as Republican senators set serious concerns and supinely vote to confirm patently unqualified and inappropriate nominees for the most powerful positions in government. For…
Can John Thune Fix the Senate?
Five-day work weeks. Bringing more bills to the floor. More debate with plenty of opportunity for members to offer amendments? Is John Thune channeling the “Fixing Congress” agenda? The Senate’s…
Why Trump’s Recess Appointment Gambit Won’t Work
Nothing sustains a political blood feud more than memories of outrageous injustices. Democrats have never gotten over the refusal of Senate Republicans to take up the Merrick Garland’s nomination to…
Misreading the Mandate, Again
From one angle of view, the Republican sweep of the White House and—as now appears likely—both houses of Congress will offer a temporary reprieve from the political dysfunction of recent…
For Members of Congress, No Penalty for Failure
Americans have pretty much had it with politics. According to a recent Pew Research poll, two-thirds of Americans express little or no confidence in the American political system. Less than half…
With an eye on House majority, Democrats mull ways to ‘fix Congress’
Paul Kane of The Washington Post recently featured the work of Fixing Congress at Penn Washington in his article about lawmakers’ desires to change how the legislative body functions. He discussed how a…