Senate

Niels Lesniewski, “Senate Could Be Tied up For Weeks Voting on Trump Nominees,” Roll Call:

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to thwart filibusters of more than a dozen of President Donald Trump’s nominees Wednesday afternoon. The move sets up the potential for weeks of virtually continuous sessions of the Senate, although it is more likely that a bipartisan agreement will be reached at least ahead of the long Labor Day weekend.”

Carl Hulse, “How the Senate Got Its Groove Back With the Power of the Purse,” NYT:

“Against the backdrop of rising partisan rancor over the Supreme Court vacancy, an unlikely bipartisan breakthrough is quietly taking place in the Senate, where the annual spending bills are advancing in a way that hasn’t been seen in years.”

Carl Hulse, “As Bad News Piles Up, Senate Republicans Hardly Flinch,” NYT:

“For those wondering if the latest disclosures from the Trump legal file are finally weighty enough to cause top congressional Republicans to break from the president, the answer is no.”

Jordain Carney, “This week: Senate tries to avoid landmines on massive spending bill,” The Hill:

“Senators will work this week to navigate a package of spending bills that are normally a political lightning rod across the Senate floor.”

House

Mike Debonis, “McCarthy quietly wages the other midterm campaign — for House speaker,” Washington Post:

“McCarthy’s appearance at this well-known hotbed of political ambition reflects a simmering battle over the future of the House Republican leadership, and the 53-year-old lawmaker is seeking to make it clear that he intends to remain atop that hierarchy.”

Matthew Green and Douglas Harris, “Is Nancy Pelosi in trouble?” Washington Post:

“These are significant signs that Pelosi’s hold on power is not absolute. Nonetheless, she still has some big advantages as the incumbent leader, making it far from clear that Democrats will replace her with someone else.”

Bill Scher, “The Case for Nancy Pelosi,” Real Clear Policy:

“More than 40 Democratic nominees for House seats, and another 11 Democratic incumbents, have publicly said they don’t want Rep. Nancy Pelosi to regain the speaker’s gavel if their party wins control of the chamber. But they can’t give a good reason why.”

Lindsey McPherson, “Paul Ryan Strips Duncan Hunter of Committee Assignments,” Roll Call:

“Speaker Paul D. Ryan announced Tuesday night that he has removed Rep. Duncan Hunter from the three House committees he serves on after the California Republican was indicted for misuse of campaign funds. Hunter will be at least temporarily stripped of his assignments to the House Armed Services, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Education and the Workforce Committees.”

Mike DeBonis, “After Collins indictment, House members seek to crack down on lawmakers’ board service,” Washington Post:

“A bipartisan resolution set to be introduced in the House on Tuesday would ban the chamber’s lawmakers from sitting on the boards of publicly traded companies, an ethics measure that responds to the criminal indictment of Rep. Chris Collins earlier this month.”

Congress, Miscellaneous

Heather Caygle, “Lawmakers ditch town halls: ‘They want to avoid those gotcha moments’,” Politico:

“So far, the August recess is quiet. Very quiet. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to prefer it that way. Members have scheduled only about 180 in-person events this recess, a nearly 70 percent decrease from the same time last year, according to data tracked by Legistorm.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, “The Critical Importance of Congressional Oversight,” Real Clear Policy:

“The federal government needs to do a better job enforcing the law and overseeing its programs, not only in health care, but across all agencies. In places where the law falls short, Congress needs to enact reforms that would plug loopholes and hold wrongdoers accountable for taking taxpayers for a ride.”

Tucker Higgins, “This exclusive ‘boot camp’ for congressional staffers is trying to make America bipartisan again,” CNBC:

“At a time when Americans and their representatives in Congress are more polarized than they have been in decades, the notion can seem hopelessly idealistic. But the organizers behind the workshop are far from naive.”

Francine McKenna, “Warren proposes lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists,” MarketWatch:

“The Massachusetts Democrat advocates a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress, Presidents, and agency heads and banning foreign lobbying and lobbyists donations to candidates and members of Congress.”

Michael Koncewicz, “Today’s GOP leaders have little in common with those who resisted Nixon,” The Conversation:

“During Watergate, a significant number of GOP members of Congress and the Nixon administration publicly resisted President Richard Nixon’s efforts to undermine the rule of law. Today’s GOP leaders, with few exceptions, meekly follow President Trump.”

Alex Gangitano, “Want to Climb the Hill? Former Staffers Give Advice in New Book,” Roll Call:

“Heard on the Hill reporter Alex Gangitano sits down with former congressional staffers Amos Snead, a Republican, and Jaime Harrison, a Democrat, to discuss their new book “Climbing the Hill,” a nonpartisan guide to building a career in Congress.”

Matthew Yglesias, “Michael Cohen’s guilty plea underscores congressional Republicans’ total abdication of responsibility,” Vox:

“It’s also a reminder that while the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible involvement in said meddling by Trump or members of his circle is important, it’s hardly the only line of inquiry into Trump’s conduct for which there’s a legitimate basis.”

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Marian Currinder
Marian Currinder is a permanent staffer of the U.S. House of Representatives' Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress as of December 2019. ...

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