Top Reads on Congress This Week
There's a ton of content. Here's what caught my eye.
I’ve added some more content to UnderstandingCongress.org. Topics include: (1) a case for filibuster reform; (2) guidance on how to be an effective lawmaker; and (3) former Wisconsin, GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher’s take on what ails Congress. These are all items with longshelf life, which is what UnderstandingCongress.org was built to hold. Have a look!
Now moving along to more newsy items…
Ethan Bauer has a long essay in Deseret News on a contingent presidential election—that horrific nightmare scenario where Congress picks our next president. A contingent election, wherein no candidate gets 270 electroal votes, is one of those glitches in our constitutional machinery—and Congress has neglected to fix the situation. If you thought January 6 was bad, a contingent election could get very crazy.
My American Enterprise Institute colleague Philip Wallach had a fine piece in The Dispatch on Mike Johnson. Might he do something daring, or will he simply run out the clock before the election? Wallach writes:
If [Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene proceeds with her motion, Democrats are likely to join with Republicans to simply table it. For all their complaints about Johnson, and for all of the left-wing media’s attempts to portray him as a religious zealot, they have found him to be a more straightforward operator than McCarthy. They can hope that, if he has decided not to be ruled by his right flank, they might find more opportunities for cooperation in the nine months remaining to this Congress.
What remains to be seen is whether Johnson is willing to act bipartisan from the get-go, including in the Rules Committee. It’s hard to say whether a majority of House Republicans would accept that approach. After all, the idea of a unified party making demands of Democrats and forcing the Senate and Biden administration into concessions retains some luster, even if that dynamic has rarely governed in this Congress, which has so far been historically unproductive. But for governance-minded conservatives, if Johnson and Rules Committee Republicans are willing to work with Democrats from the start, they may well be able to ensure their priorities are better served than by going through months of a purely partisan process that does not feed into real lawmaking. Ironically, by admitting that his party cannot accomplish much on its own, Johnson could make more of Republicans’ majority status. The House, meanwhile, would come into its own as a deliberative, governing body, no longer simply eating whatever the Senate serves it.
If you don’t subscribe to The Dispatch, you can read AEI’s reprint of Phil’s essay here.
Speaking of Speaker Johnson, Elaina Plott Calabro dropped this long report in The Atlantic. While Columbia’s cerebral protestors are chanting “You suck” at Johnson, Calabro has written a piece titled, “The Accidental Speaker: What if Mike Johnson is actually good at this?” Indeed, what if the new guy has a sound moral compass and a good understanding of how to get to a fractious chamber to “yea”?
Politico’s Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes report,
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole has some revamped guidance on earmarks that Democrats won't like.
The new chair is barring nonprofits from receiving money through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Economic Development Initiative grant program, hoping to minimize some political headaches that popped up in the last months-long fight over funding the government.
This is a cagey move. The Senate can still insert earmarks into its version of the HUD appropriation, but it gives the House plausible deniability should Community Grants Program projects get enacted that create political backlash.
Last item for this round-up: Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) has died from a hearattack. RIP, and condolences to his family, friends, and supporters. Payne is on the ballot and likely will win his election, and the process for replacing him is, well, complex.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!