President Trump is right about one thing: Washington’s broken. The endless gridlock, the political posturing, and now another government shutdown. It’s enough to make any sensible American want to throw the rulebook out the window. But there’s one rule we can’t afford to toss: the Senate filibuster. Yes, it’s frustrating. Yes, it slows things down.…
Senate Republicans, the Nuclear Option & What’s at Stake
So, here’s the scene in Washington: President Trump has a lineup of nominees—ambassadors, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, the whole alphabet soup of federal posts—cooling their heels in political purgatory. Many of them had already survived the gauntlet of committee hearings, some even with bipartisan nods of approval. You’d think that would earn them a reasonably quick…
Faith, Freedom, and Fiscal Honesty: A Look at the House GOP’s Tax-and-Spending Bill Tweaks
The latest maneuvering in Washington’s halls of power has the House GOP finalizing changes to their tax-and-spending reconciliation bill, tweaks necessary to keep the legislation compliant with the Senate's "Byrd Rule." Now, before your eyes glaze over at Senate procedure, here's why it matters: if the bill doesn’t follow this rulebook, it loses its “privileged”…
Trump and Recess Appointments
The possibility of President-elect Donald Trump using recess appointments to bypass Senate confirmation and fill his Cabinet has sparked heated debate. Recess appointments, a tool enshrined in the Constitution, allow a president to temporarily fill positions when the Senate is not in session. While this strategy has been used by presidents of both parties, its…
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