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 in recent weeks following passage, on a party line vote, of Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that many Republicans acknowledged was the deeply flawed product of a…
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 Congress’ role as the arena where political fights happen has turned the House and Senate into a stew of de facto pundits and lobbyists of…
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 rope, confident they will pursue radical policies that will prove so unpopular that Republicans will lose the next two elections. The first approach is likely…
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…
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…
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…
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 new Republican leader is certainly sending signals that he intends to restore the upper chamber as a functioning and deliberative legislative body. The tentative schedule…