The public has been really down on Congress for about 20 years. A Gallup poll in September found public approval of our nation’s legislature was a mere 17 percent. The ugly fight over the Speakership quite probably did not buoy Americans’ feelings. For sure, some of this grumpy public sentiment is driven by negative media. […]
The horrific nightmare scenario where Co...
One thing I worry about is a contingent presidential election. That situation arises when no candidate gets a majority of electoral votes (270 of 538). Should this situation arise, Congress gets to pick the next president and vice president. Yes, you read correctly, the 535 folks whom 80 percent of Americans dislike make these momentous decisions. Yes, […]
We should not be surprised by the next g...
A majority of budget wonks think the federal government is headed toward a shutdown, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The nonprofit conducted its “highly unscientific poll” in late August, and 58 percent of respondents responded in the affirmative. I was one of the nerds who was asked, and I put the odds at 50-50…. […]
Could election reform in DC help conserv...
Reformers in Washington, D.C. are trying to break the liberal domination of governance in the nation’s capital. Democrats comprise 76 percent of registered voters, but they hold nearly every elected position. There’s not a single Republican among them, and the few independents who have slipped in behave like Democrats. D.C. elections are so dull that few voters show up […]
Want better governance? Then improve the...
There has been a lot of aggressive politicking around election policies over the past few years. From sea to shining sea there have been battles over voting by mail, voter identification rules and the like. For the most part, these have been partisan fights. Democrats cry out for loosening rules to make voting easier, and […]
Could a congressional dorm bring legisla...
Not long ago I was chatting with a long-time Hill staffer about the state of Congress. Our conversation hit upon troubles familiar to just about any American, like the broken budget process. We also spoke of less salient drags on legislative productivity, such as the high turnover of the staff who help legislators get things done. […]