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 Congress has allowed its legislative muscles to atrophy and its power to be usurped by a succession of presidents. The essay echoes many of the…
Biography Jim Cooper represented two Nashville area districts in the House, the first from 1983 to 1995 and the second from 2003 to 2023. In 1994, he ran for the Senate seat from Tennessee vacated by Al Gore when he was elected vice president, losing to Republican Fred Thompson. A moderate “blue dog” Democrat, he served…
Biography After 14 years in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, Charlie Dent served seven terms in Congress from a district in eastern and south-central Pennsylvania. He was a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, chairing subcommittees on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and served for two years as chairman of the Ethics Committee. He was also…
Biography Byron L. Dorgan was a congressman and senator for North Dakota for 30 years before retiring from the Senate in 2011. In the Senate, he served for 16 years in party leadership positions, first as assistant Democratic floor leader and then as chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee. He served as chairman of the Senate…
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 the federal government now being carried out by President Trump and his billionaire henchman, Elon Musk. Like us, at Fixing Congress, he assigns some blame…
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 is broken and illegal immigration had got out of hand, straining local budgets, overwhelming local culture in some places, and undermining the rule of law.…
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 secretary of defense, a philanderer with a reported (and unrefuted) drinking problem and a well-documented disrespect for females in combat. A political henchman who promises…
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 the response is the same as their problem with the last election campaign: a stubborn refusal to talk honestly about the problems…
Contact Steven Pearlstein is the Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University and Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Washington. For 35 years, Pearlstein wrote about economics and business for the Washington Post, winning the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for columns anticipating and explaining the recent financial crisis and global…
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 self-respect among rank-and-file Members. We saw no better example than Sen. Joni Ernst’s succumbing to MAGA bullying this week by announcing her intention to vote…