Penn Washington News & Comment
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…
Ezra Klein on our “non-player” Congress
New York Times columnist Ezra Klein offered an insightful column last weekend on the utter failure of Congress to assume its role as a check on the hostile takeover of…
Opinion: Congress has itself to blame for current constitutional crisis
One way to understand the unfolding constitutional crisis in Washington is as the inevitable result of 30 years of congressional dysfunction. For starters, Congress’s failure to address and resolve the…
Trump may be misguided, but he’s not wrong about everything
President Trump is often misinformed and misguided. He lies and exaggerates about a lot of things, but he’s not completely wrong about everything. He’s not wrong that the immigration system…
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…
Trump, Democrats, and the art of political theater
The problem with the Democrats’ response to President Trump’s hostile takeover of Washington is not that Democratic politicians aren’t unified or outraged enough, as if those would accomplish anything. No,…
The problem with Congress is not that it takes itself too seriously but that it doesn’t take itself seriously enough
Cut through all the partisan finger-pointing, set aside all the rationalizations and excuses, and what you’ll find at the root of Congress’s dysfunction is a serious lack of seriousness and…
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…
Crop Failure: Why Congress Can’t Even Pass a Farm Bill
It’s a bipartisan ritual repeated a dozen times over the last 60 years: In exchange for Democrats agreeing to reauthorize commodity price supports and crop insurance for farmers, Republicans agree…
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…