The Senate's Latest Gun Bill Will Fail, but Not Because of the Filibuster

CongressJames WallnerJune 2, 2022gun control, Senate, Filibuster, filibuster, cloture, motion to proceed, Rule XIX, Rule XIV, Chuck Schumer, Chris Murphy, Kyrsten SinemaComment

Democrats Can Beat a GOP Filibuster Without Wrecking Senate Rules

Senate Democrats should avoid taking the easy, undemocratic way out.

CongressJames WallnerJanuary 14, 2022Senate, Senate Rules, Filibuster, Rule XXII, Rule XIX, Biden, Kamala Harris, cloture, Harry Reid, Presiding OfficerComment

The Senate's Problem Isn't the Filibuster, It's a Lack of Open Debate

CongressJames WallnerFebruary 1, 2021Senate, Filibuster, Nuclear Option, Richard RussellComment

Winning Elections Won’t Fix Our Broken Legislature

Elections, Congress, Political Theory, Political ScienceJames WallnerDecember 15, 2020Senate, Polarization, 2020 Election, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, James Madison, Federalist 48Comment

McConnell is not all-powerful against Biden's Cabinet nominees

Elections, CongressJames WallnerNovember 20, 2020Senate, Joe Biden, 2020 Election, Georgia Special Elections, Majority Leader, Senate Rules, Confirmation Process, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnellComment

If Democrats take the Senate, here's how the GOP can still stop their agenda

Congress, ElectionsJames WallnerNovember 13, 2020Senate, obstruction, Senate RulesComment

Real Purpose of the Senate: To Check the Actions of the House

The House and Senate are necessary ingredients for institutionalized conflict

James WallnerDecember 5, 2018Senate, Bicameralism, Niccolo Machiavelli, James Madison, House of RepresentativesComment

Jeff Flake doesn't have to go gentle into that good night

There are better ways to force a vote protecting Mueller

James WallnerNovember 16, 2018Senate, Agenda Control, Parliamentary Procedure, Jeff Flake, Mitch McConnell, LeadershipComment

Confirmation Wars and Constitutional Authority (Part II)

“In reality, we rationalize, we deny, or we couldn’t go on confirming.”

James WallnerAugust 17, 2018Senate, Confirmation Process, Filibuster, Nuclear OptionComment

Confirmation Wars and Constitutional Authority (Part I)

For today’s senators, the ends always justify the means

James WallnerAugust 16, 2018Senate, Confirmation Process, Judicial NominationsComment

Why filling the vacant Supreme Court seat is bad for the country

A deadlocked court would be better for the future of U.S. politics.

James WallnerJuly 11, 2018Supreme Court, Senate, Confirmation Process, Presidency, ConstitutionComment

McConnell Is the Longest-Serving GOP Leader. But Not the Most Consequential.

Mitch McConnell is a tough guy to figure out

James WallnerJune 15, 2018Senate, Leadership, McConnell, Mansfield, GridlockComment

Don't expect the Senate's inaction to change anytime soon

There is a lot more to the Senate’s dysfunction than Democratic intransigence alone

James WallnerJune 7, 2018Senate, Gridlock, Obstruction, Politics of EffortComment

Mitch McConnell promised to fix the broken Senate. Instead, it's only gotten worse.

“All men dread the power of oppression out of their own hands, and almost all men wish it irresistible when it is there.”

James WallnerMarch 30, 2018Senate, Leadership, Legislative Process Comment

Republicans are making it harder to confirm Trump's nominees

Republicans are helping Democrats slow action on President Trump’s nominees

James WallnerMarch 27, 2018Senate, Parliamentary Procedure, Obstruction, Filibuster, Nuclear Option, NominationsComment

Can the filibuster long survive?

Republicans make it easier for Democrats to obstruct

James WallnerFebruary 8, 2018Senate, Legislative Process, Filibuster, Parliamentary ProcedureComment

Orrin Hatch's retirement may set off musical chairs in GOP Senate committee leadership

Republicans are set to play a game of musical chairs on the Senate’s most important committees.

James WallnerJanuary 8, 2018Senate, Republicans, Orrin Hatch, Committee leadershipComment

A long-overlooked Senate committee could save the Republican agenda

Even with last week’s progress on tax reform, 2017 has not been a great year for Republicans in Congress.

Back in January, they had reason to expect things to turn out differently. After all, the GOP controlled Congress and the presidency for the first time in more than a decade. It was Republicans’ best opportunity to enact their legislative agenda since 2005.

But despite the 11 months that have transpired between then and now, they have yet to capitalize on that opportunity. Republicans’ failure to deliver on longstanding commitments, like repealing Obamacare and reducing government spending, has exposed deep divisions within the party over important policy areas. Even the Republicans’ effort to reform the tax code has proven to be harder than many initially expected.

James WallnerDecember 6, 2017Senate, Leadership, RepublicansComment

Age-old Senate rules might kill tax reform

This week’s rush by Republicans to pass tax reform reveals the limits of majority rule in the Senate.

Early in the year, Republicans decided to use the special budget process known as reconciliation to pass their tax bill in anticipation of Democratic obstruction. They did so because reconciliation bills cannot be filibustered. The support of a simple majority of senators is all that’s needed to overcome any effort to delay an up-or-down vote on final passage.

This feature of the reconciliation process is the most well-known, given the tendency common today to view Senate dysfunction solely through the lens of minority obstruction. From this perspective, reconciliation offers the majority party a way to pass its agenda over the objections of the minority party.

But this is a simplistic view of the legislative dynamics inherent in reconciliation. It overlooks other features of the process that complicate the majority’s efforts to pass tax reform and exacerbate the Senate’s underlying problems.

James WallnerDecember 4, 2017Legislative Process, Reconciliation, Senate, Tax Reform, BudgetComment

For Senate Republicans to get anything done, change must start at the top with Mitch McConnell

Senate Republicans are faltering. Buffeted by adversity on every front, they appear exhausted and demoralized.

But their cause is not lost. New leadership can rally the Republican rank and file to action and get the Senate working again.

James WallnerOctober 17, 2017Senate, Leadership, RepublicansComment