Fixing Congress

“We can spend an entire year getting nothing done.” Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA, in Politico on the possibility that the House and Senate will not agree on President Trump’s “one beautiful” tax and spending bill.

What has the new Republican-controlled Congress accomplished legislatively in its first three months? Just this: fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year under a continuing resolution narrowly passed with only Republican votes that lets the president set spending levels rather than Congress.   All the rest has been partisan posturing full of sound…

To hear it from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats were faced with two terrible choices: force a lengthy government shutdown that would have hurt millions of ordinary Americans and given President Trump and Elon Musk an opportunity to disembowel more government programs, or acquiesce to a six-month Republican funding bill that would have hurt…

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…

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…

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…

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 to reauthorize the food stamp program that helps feed 42 million low-income Americans.  That’s not to say that Republicans don’t use the opportunity of every…

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 the Supreme Court.  Republicans still nurse a deep grudge over the impeachment of President Trump over a ham-handed and failed attempt to get Ukrainian officials to…