Reforming Congress Interview Series: Recent Episodes
Sunwater Institute
Dr. Laura Blessing discusses the history of budgeting and taxes in the United States and how it still affects us today.About Dr. Blessing:Dr. Blessing earned her PhD from the University of Virginia, she was also a Miller Center National Fellow and a Fellow for the Bankard Fund for Political Economy. Her studies focus on Congress, political parties and policy regarding tax and budget. Dr. Blessing currently teaches at Georgetown University, her teachings centralize around Congress, the presidency, media and politics as well as the public policy process. She is also a Government Affairs Institute Fellow, she teaches two research seminars on the Politics of tax and budget policy and the second research seminar explores Committees and Parties in Congress. Chapters:0:08 - Background3:19 - Themes for research, PhD and afterwards5:20 - Tax and Budget 6:24 - How has the budget and tax-and-spend process changed overtime?16:51 - Talk a little about the top-down process of the budget22:20 - Alternatives to top-down budget process?26:37 - Transparency related to budget process27:59 - Proposed budget process reforms you support or don't support33:58 - Tax Policy: Did it evolve similarly to the budget process or independently?38:41 - Taxes: Individuals vs. Corporations and Income vs. Assets41:49 - Borrowing and Low Interest Rates45:24 - Earmarks51:05 - What do you think congressional representation should mean?56:00 - Congressional Time - How would you allocate it?59:02 - Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue in Congress1:01:59 - What fundamental improvement do you think Congress should make within a 50-year time frame? Fix the budget process1:04:00 - Good books on congressional reformAbout the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Dr. Nick Hart discusses how data can improve policymaking in our government and why it's important to utilize data properly. About Dr. Nick Hart:Dr. Nick Hart is the CEO and President of the Data Foundation. Dr. Hart focuses his studies on evidence informed policymaking as well as open data practices to improve society. During his professional career, Dr. Hart has led initiatives in the government and nonprofits championing the use of data for bettering the way our government operates. He is a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He previously worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget, as the Policy and Research Director of the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, and as the Director the Evidence Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center.Dr. Hart earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, specializing in program evaluation. He holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Truman State University.Dr. Hart is also an author, he has written books and articles focusing on evidence based policymakingAbout the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver discusses bipartisanship between parties and how modern change can assist with polarization issues. About the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Dr. Nick Hart discusses how data can improve policymaking in our government and why it's important to utilize data properly. About Dr. Nick Hart:Dr. Nick Hart is the CEO and President of the Data Foundation. Dr. Hart focuses his studies on evidence informed policymaking as well as open data practices to improve society. During his professional career, Dr. Hart has led initiatives in the government and nonprofits championing the use of data for bettering the way our government operates. He is a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He previously worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget, as the Policy and Research Director of the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, and as the Director the Evidence Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center.Dr. Hart earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, specializing in program evaluation. He holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Truman State University.Dr. Hart is also an author, he has written books and articles focusing on evidence based policymakingAbout the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Dr. Lindsey Cormack discusses communication within Congress, how to get the younger generation to vote, and the different terms Republicans and Democrats tend to use when conversing about political issues.
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About Dr. Lindsey Cormack: Dr. Cormack is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stevens Institute of Technology. Prior to her professorship, she received her PhD in Political Science from New York University.
After graduating with her PhD, Dr. Cormack started DC Inbox which is the central location for Sitting Members of Congress to share e-newsletters with their constituents. Prior to DC Inbox, there was no centralized location for e-newsletters to be shared from members of Congress.
Dr. Cormack is also an author and has received numerous honors and awards in relation to her teaching including but not limited to the 2021 Provost's Online Teaching Excellence Award (2021) as well as the Harvey N. Davis Distinguished Teaching Assistant Professor Award (2019)
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Dr. Periloux Peay discusses the Congressional Black Caucus and how members of color experience their service in Congress. Sunwater.org
About Dr. Periloux Peay: Periloux Peay is an Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science at Georgia State University. He received my Ph.D. from The University of Oklahoma in 2020. His scholarly interest center on questions of the influence of racial identity and the representation of group-specific policy interests in political institutions. He draws on theories of the public policy process to examine how those from under-represented communities employ collective strategies to shape political agendas and outcomes from within and outside American political institutions.
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
"Committees are key to telling the story of how Congress works." Dr. Maya Kornberg is the author of the forthcoming book "Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in Lawmaking." In this interview, she talks with Sunwater Institute founder Matt Chervenak about congressional committees' role in American governance.#Congress #nonpartisan #interview #sunwater About Dr. Kornberg:Dr. Maya Kornberg is a research fellow on the Elections and Government Program, where she leads work related to information and disinformation in politics, Congress, and money in politics. She has worked on democratic governance issues at nonprofits, international organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions. She previously held positions at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), NYU Govlab, and Public Agenda. Most recently, she led research for a UNDP and IPU project examining civic engagement in the work of over 80 parliaments around the world. She is lead author of the resulting Global Parliamentary Report. About the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Representative Stephanie Bice, chair of the House Administration Committee's Modernization Subcommittee, discusses opportunities to meet the needs of an evolving Congress.Sunwater.org#Congress #reform #nonpartisan #interview #sunwater About Representative Stephanie Bice:Congresswoman Stephanie Bice graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Marketing and a minor in International Business. Before serving in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Bice served in the Oklahoma State Senate for six years. Before her public service, Bice worked in financial oversight, business strategy and marketing for her family's technology company.In the 117th Congress, Bice was elected to serve as freshman class president and serves as a member of the Republican whip Team. She has also served on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. She currently serves as the sophomore class representative to the Elected Leadership Committee for the 118th Congress. About the Sunwater Institute:The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Dr. Chafetz discusses "overspeech" in Congress, the importance of parties, and how committees have served Congress over time. Sunwater.orgAbout Josh:Josh Chafetz received his B.A. from Yale University, his doctorate in Politics from Oxford (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar), and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before coming to Georgetown, he spent twelve years on the faculty at Cornell Law School.His research interests include structural constitutional law, American and British constitutional history, legislation and legislative procedure, American political development, and the intersection of law and politics. His second book, Congress’s Constitution: Legislative Authority and the Separation of Powers, was published by Yale University Press in 2017. He is also the author of Democracy’s Privileged Few: Legislative Privilege and Democratic Norms in the British and American Constitutions (Yale University Press, 2007) and is a co-editor (along with William N. Eskridge, Jr., Elizabeth Garrett, and James Brudney) of the leading casebook in Legislation, Cases and Materials on Legislation and Regulation: Statutes and the Creation of Public Policy, published by West.His scholarship has been published in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Notre Dame Law Review, and Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, among others. He has also written for a number of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Slate, and The New Republic. In 2019-2020, he served as a member of the American Political Science Association Presidential Task Force on Congressional Reform.The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Danielle Thomsen discusses how money influences power in Congress, moderates in Congress, as well as partizan polarization. Sunwater.orgAbout Danielle:Professor Thomsen, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. She studies American politics, U.S. Congress, elections, and gender and politics.Her book, "Opting Out of Congress: Partisan Polarization and the Decline of Moderate Candidates," examines the rise of partisan polarization in Congress. The central argument is that the benefits of serving in Congress today are too low for moderates to run, further exacerbating the ideological gulf between the two parties. Another aspect of her research analyzes contemporary patterns of women’s representation and why the number of Democratic women in Congress has increased dramatically since the 1980s while the number of Republican women has barely grown.Dr. Thomsen's next book project, Money as Muscle in American Elections, explores the significance and impact of fundraising in congressional elections from 1980 to 2020.Dr. Thomsen's research has been published in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, Political Behavior, Political Research Quarterly, Politics, Groups, and Identities, and State Politics & Policy Quarterly. She has received financial support from the National Science Foundation, the American Association of University Women, the Dirksen Congressional Center, and the Social Science Research Council.The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Joel Sievert discusses procedural actions of the senate, incentives within Congress, as well as how members view re-elections.
Sunwater.org
About Joel: Joel Sievert is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas Tech University.
Dr. Sievert received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 2015. Prior to joining the faculty at TTU, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Political Institutions and Public Choice Program at Duke University. His research and teaching interests encompass American political institutions with an emphasis on congressional politics, the presidency, American political development, and separation of powers.
Dr. Sievert's research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Presidential Studies Quarterly. He recently co-authored a book, Electoral Incentives in Congress, that is forthcoming with the University of Michigan Press.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Annelise discusses covering media in Congress, how staff utilize social media for members, and how government related communications has changed over the years. Sunwater.org
About Annelise: Annelise Russell, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the university of Kentucky. She is also a faculty associate of the U.S. Policy Agendas Project and. member of the Comparative Agendas Project. Her research includes questions about how policymakers communicate their agendas and the role of the media, particularly social media, in the political process. Much of her research is on congressional decision-making and communication, including an active research agenda in the intersection of social media and political institutions. Dr. Russell publishes research across political science, public policy and communication, including in American Politics Research and Policy Studies Journal. Much of her interest in political communication stems from her work as journalist working for the National Journal, Congressional Quarterly, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dr. Russell received a PhD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, and she also holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and journalism from the University of Oklahoma.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Jesse Crosson discusses unstable majorities, member incentives, and how those factors influence the speed of congressional policymaking. Sunwater.org
About Jesse Crosson: Jesse is an Assistant Professor of political science at Purdue University. Previously he was an assistant professor of political science at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, a fellow, and a visiting research scholar at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. In 2019 he received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan.
Crosson's research agenda has been motivated by a long-standing interest in analyzing changes in public policy. His work focuses on the institutional underpinnings of policy change, with a particular interest in legislative parties and electoral competition. In addition to his research, he is an Assistant Professor and a proud member of the Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts faculty at Purdue University.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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About Steven Smith: Steven S. Smith is the Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Washington University. He was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and taught at George Washington University, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota, where he was the Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Political Science and Law. He was director of the Weidenbaum Center for 20 years.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Daniel Lipinski is an American politician and political scientist. He served eight terms as the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 3rd congressional district between 2005-2021. Lipinski is a socially conservative democrat, however he was a part of the Blue Dog Coalition, The Problem Solvers Caucus, and the Climate Solutions Caucus as well as many others. In addition to Caucus Memberships, he also served on two House Committees: Transportation & Infrastructure as well as the Science, Space & Technology Committee.
Lipinski has appeared in podcasts, spoken publicly and published writing since his time in Congress and currently plans to continue writing about Congress.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank with a mission to strengthen the foundations of democracy through interdisciplinary science, technology, and open dialogue. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
Congress #Reform #nonpartisan #Interview #sunwater
The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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About Leonard:
Leonard Steinhorn is a professor of Communication and an affiliate professor of History. His expertise includes American politics, culture and media; the presidency and presidential elections; political strategy and communication; recent American history; the 1960s; race relations in America. He is author of The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy, and co-author of By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race. He has published in books, journals, the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Politico, The Hill, Political Wire, International Herald Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Baltimore Sun, Huffington Post, Salon, History News Network, BillMoyers.com, World Financial Review, among others, and he was the founding editor of PunditWire, a site where political speechwriters commented on the news. Since 2012 he has served as a political analyst for CBS News Radio, and before that he served ten years as the political analyst for FOX-5 News in Washington, DC. Steinhorn has appeared as an on-air expert in a number of documentaries, including CNN's The Sixties and 1968: The Year That Changed America, Superheroes Decoded on the History Channel, and The Kennedy Files on REELZ, and he also appeared in a DVD special feature on the baby boom generation for the final season of AMC's Mad Men. He has given hundreds of talks at home and abroad, and he currently lectures nationwide on politics and history for One Day University. Steinhorn was twice named AU Faculty Member of the Year, and he also was named Honors Professor of the Year in 2010. Before joining the AU faculty, he spent 15 years as a political consultant and speechwriter.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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About Michele L. Swers:
Michele Swers is a Professor of American Government in the Department of Government. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Swers' research and teaching interests encompass Congress, Congressional elections, and Women and Politics. She has written two books on women and representation in Congress. Her book, The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress (University of Chicago Press 2002) explores gender differences in policy making activity on issues related to women, children, and families. Women in the Club: Gender and Policy Making in the Senate (University of Chicago Press 2013) examines the impact of gender on senators' policy activities in the areas of women's issues, national security, and judicial nominations. Swers focuses on party differences to demonstrate how party reputations for issue ownership interact with perceptions of women’s policy expertise to create opportunities and obstacles for women senators. She analyzes women’s activities as members of partisan teams leveraging their gender to promote party messages to groups of women voters and to advance their own policy goals.
Dr. Swers has written numerous articles and book chapters on women in Congress and women in elections as candidates and voters. Recent articles examine the evolution of partisan voting on abortion-related issues in Congress (Politics & Gender 2021) with Kelly Rolfes-Haase and the state legislatures (Political Research Quarterly 2020) with Beth Reingold, Rebecca Kreitzer, and Tracy Osborn. Swers also analyzes how fundraising practices have contributed to the party gap in women's representation and the underrepresentation of women in the Republican party (Political Research Quarterly 2017) with Danielle Thomsen and (Politics & Gender 2016) with Karin Kitchens. She co-authors the textbook, Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence (Rowman & Littlefield Updated 4th edition 2021) with Julie Dolan and Melissa Deckman. Dr. Swers has provided expertise on Congressional policymaking and elections and the role of women in politics to media outlets including The News Hour, Washington Post, CQ Weekly, Politico, and numerous national and state newspapers. She is currently working on a project that examines differences in the policy views and support coalitions of Republican men and women in Congress.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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About Casey Burgat:
Casey Burgat is the director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management. Prior to joining GSPM, Dr. Burgat was a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute where his research focused on issues of congressional capacity and reform. In this role, Casey wrote regularly for both scholarly and journalistic publications, including CNN, the Washington Post, Politico, and appeared on a variety of television and radio outlets. Dr. Burgat is currently finishing on a co-authored book on congressional policy procedures and strategies, to be published by the University of Michigan Press.
Previously, Casey worked at the Congressional Research Service, where he served in the Executive Branch Operations and the Congress & Judiciary sections. There, he was responsible for responding to congressional requests about federal rule-making, issues of congressional reform, the president’s role in federal budgeting, federal advisory committees and congressional staffing.
Casey is a graduate of Arizona State University, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He also holds a master’s in political management from George Washington University and received his doctorate in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, where his dissertation focused on the impacts of congressional staff.
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Zachary Courser is Director of CMC's Policy Lab and a visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College. His research agenda focuses on public policy, political parties, democracy and populism. He recently co-authored a report for the American Enterprise Institute on the need for reinstating congressional earmarking entitled "Restoring the power of the purse: Earmarks and re-empowering legislators to deliver local benefits" (AEI, 2021). He is a contributor and editor of the volume Parchment Barriers: Political Polarization and the Limits of Constitutional Order (University Press of Kansas, 2018), the result of a year-long, multi-disciplinary research project examining the dynamics of polarization through an examination of conflicts over the American constitutional order.
Prof. Courser has led several research partnerships for CMC’s Policy Lab with a variety of think tanks, including Bipartisan Policy Center, RAND Corporation, American Enterprise Institute, and the Brookings Institution. He is currently leading a project with AEI on how well state emergency elections laws performed in adapting to pandemic conditions of the 2020 election. Together with Prof. Eric Helland he is writing a policy textbook based on the Policy Lab's undergraduate program for Routledge.
He has experience working in Washington, DC, both on Capitol Hill and as the interim director of Claremont McKenna College’s Washington Program, and is a commentator on California and national politics on Southern California Public Radio. Before coming to CMC he served as the Program Director and Fellow for a London-based think tank, and taught American Politics at Science Po Lyon in France. He holds a master’s and doctoral degree in government from the University of Virginia, and a bachelor’s in government from Claremont McKenna College. He also holds a diplôme universitaire d’études françaises from the Université Lumière Lyon 2, Centre International d’Études Françaises.
The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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Louis Fisher is Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project. Previously he worked for four decades at the Library of Congress as Senior Specialist in Separation of Powers (Congressional Research Service, from 1970 to 2006) and Specialist in Constitutional Law (the Law Library, from 2006 to 2010). During his service with CRS he was research director of the House Iran-Contra Committee in 1987, writing major sections of the final report. Fisher's specialties include constitutional law, war powers, budget policy, executive-legislative relations, and judicial-congressional relations.
After completing his doctoral work in political science at the New School for Social Research in 1967, he taught at Queens College for three years. Later he taught at Georgetown University, American University, Catholic University law school, Indiana University, Catholic University, the College of William and Mary law school, and Johns Hopkins University. Currently he is a Visiting Professor at the William and Mary law school.
His books include President and Congress (1972), Presidential Spending Power (1975), The Constitution Between Friends (1978), The Politics of Shared Power (4th ed. 1998), Constitutional Conflicts Between Congress and the President (6th ed. 2014), Constitutional Dialogues (1988), American Constitutional Law (with Katy J. Harriger, 10th ed. 2013), Presidential War Power (3rd ed. 2014), Political Dynamics of Constitutional Law (with Neal Devins, 5th ed. 2011), Congressional Abdication on War and Spending (2000), Religious Liberty in America: Political Safeguards (2002), Nazi Saboteurs on Trial: A Military Tribunal & American Law (2003; 2d ed. 2005), The Politics of Executive Privilege (2004), The Democratic Constitution (with Neal Devins, 2004), Military Tribunals and Presidential Power: American Revolution to the War on Terrorism (2005), In the Name of National Security: Unchecked Presidential Power and the Reynolds Case (2006), The Constitution and 9/11: Recurring Threats to America’s Freedoms (2008), The Supreme Court and Congress: Rival Interpretations (2009), On Appreciating Congress: The People’s Branch (2010), Defending Congress and the Constitution (2011), On the Supreme Court: Without Illusion and Idolatry (2013), and The Law of the Executive Branch: Presidential Power (2014). His textbook in constitutional law is available in two paperbacks: Constitutional Structures: Separation of Powers and Federalism and Constitutional Rights: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. With Leonard W. Levy he edited the four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (1994).
Dr. Fisher has been invited to testify before Congress more than 50 times on such issues as war powers, state secrets privilege, NSA surveillance, presidential reorganization authority, Congress and the Constitution, the legislative veto, the Gramm-Rudman deficit control act, executive privilege, committee subpoenas, executive lobbying, CIA whistleblowing, the pocket veto, the budget process, and presidential impoundment powers.
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, non-profit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org
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Travis Moore was the Legislative Director for Representative Henry A. Waxman, the former Chairman and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Moore has launched several programs to improve technological capacity inside and outside of Congress; one of the programs they created is the first congressional digital communications training program. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Tech Congress which is a nonpartisan organization working to bridge the divide of knowledge between government and the technology community.
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, non-profit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org
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About Peter Shane: Peter M. Shane is the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at the Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, where he regularly teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Legislation and Regulation, Law and the Presidency, and courses at the intersection of law, democracy, and new media. Named a Distinguished University Scholar in 2011, he is the author of over sixty law review articles and book chapters, as well as author, co-author or editor of eight books, including leading casebooks in both administrative law and separation of powers law, as well as Madison’s Nightmare: Executive Power and the Threat to American Democracy (U. of Chicago 2009). In 2008-09, Peter served as executive director to the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, and was the lead drafter of its report, Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age (Aspen Institute 2009).
A frequent op-ed writer on public law issues, Peter has contributed essays to numerous outlets online and across the country including Slate, the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg BNA, and Huffington Post. His research and outreach projects on public deliberation, media and democracy have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the Battelle Endowment for Technology and Human Affairs. From 2004-2019, he chaired the Board of Editors for I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society (now called the Ohio State Technology Law Journal), which he co-founded.
A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Professor Shane clerked in 1977-78 for the Hon. Alvin B. Rubin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He served as an attorney- adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and as an assistant general counsel in the Office of Management and Budget, before entering full-time teaching in 1981 at the University of Iowa. Professor Shane was dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law from 1994-1998. As Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management (now, Heinz College) from 2000-2003, he directed the Institute for the Study of Information Technology and Society (InSITeS). From 2003-2007, he headed the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies at Ohio State.
Professor Shane’s public service activities have included positions as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, as International Trade Commission agency team lead for the Obama-Biden Transition Project, and as a consultant to the Federal Communications Commission. Professor Shane inaugurated the Visiting Foreign Chair for the University of Ghent Program in Foreign and Comparative Law in 2001, and has been a visiting faculty member at the Harvard, Duke, Boston College, and Villanova law schools. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Constitution Society.
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, non-profit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org.
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Hugh Halpern is the Director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) which is the agency’s chief executive officer. The agency is responsible for publishing and printing information for the three branches of the Federal Government. With over 30 years of experience on Capitol Hill, he has served in multiple leadership rolls including the Director of Floor Operations for the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also awarded the John W. McCormack Award of Excellence; the award recognizes a lifetime of Bipartisan service to the House.
About the Sunwater Institute: The Sunwater Institute is a nonpartisan, non-profit institute founded to foster the creation, discussion, and implementation of fundamental ideas that advance liberty, knowledge, opportunity, and power for individuals and society. Sunwater’s vision is a society, founded on the principles of individual liberty, striving toward its maximum potential. For more information, visit https://www.sunwater.org
Sandra Strokoff is a former Legislative Counsel of the House of Representatives. She is the first woman appointed as Legislative Counsel and replaced the previous Legislative Counsel, Pope Barrow. Prior to this, Ms. Strokoff was senior counsel in the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she drafted legislation for the House for more than 30 years. Her areas of expertise include intellectual property law, matters affecting the federal courts, international trade law, international relations issues, and laws relating to lobbying and ethics. She is the co-author of The Legislative Drafter’s Desk Reference, Second Edition, published by Congressional Quarterly Press.
John A. Lawrence served for 38 years as a senior staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives, the last eight as Chief of Staff to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He also served as staff director of the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Natural Resources, as well as chief of staff and legislative director to Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.). Upon his retirement in February 2013, Speakers John A. Boehner and Nancy Pelosi recognized his dedication to the House and to bipartisanship by conferring on him the John W. McCormack Award for Excellence. He currently is a visiting professor at the University of California (Washington Campus), and also teaches at the McCourt School for Public Policy at Georgetown University. He has lectured at Princeton’s Wilson School of Public Policy, the Eagleton Institute for Public Policy at Rutgers, Columbia University, Oberlin College and other institutions. He blogs on Congress and public affairs at DOMEocracy.
Gregory Wawro (Ph.D., Cornell, 1997) specializes in American politics (including Congress, elections, campaign finance, judicial politics, and political economy) and political methodology. He is the author of Legislative Entrepreneurship in the U.S. House of Representatives and co-author (with Eric Schickler) of Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the United States Senate, which is an historical analysis of the causes and consequences of filibusters. He has published articles in The American Journal of Political Science, The Annual Review of Political Science, Critical Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Law Economics and Organization, and Political Analysis. His academic awards include the Richard J. Fenno Prize for best book in legislative studies in 2006, the E.E. Schattschneider Award, the Milton J. Esman Award, the CQ Prize for best paper presented in the Legislative Studies section at the 2002 APSA meeting, a Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and a John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Basic Research in the Social Sciences at Harvard University.
Bryan Jones is a professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests center in the study of public policy processes, American governing institutions, and the connection between human decision-making and organizational behavior.
With Frank Baumgartner of the University of North Carolina and John Wilkerson of the University of Washington, Jones directs the Policy Agendas Project, now housed at the University of Texas. The project is the major resource for examining changes in public policy processes in American national institutions. The project is the model for similar projects in Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and the State of Pennsylvania.
Jones has received National Science Foundation Grants totaling more than $2,650,000, and has published articles in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, the American Journal of Political Science, Policy Studies Journal, and many other professional journals. He has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Economic Development Quarterly, Governance, Political Psychology, and State and Local Government Review. He has served as President and Vice President of the Midwest Political Science Association, the Executive Council of the American Political Science Association, and President of the APSA’s Organized Section on Urban Politics. In 2003 Jones won the Herbert A. Simon Award for Contributions to the Study of Public Administration.
Dr. Geoff Lorenz is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He studies how to make change in Washington. His main line of research examines why Congress addresses some policy issues but not others, and in particular the role of advocacy organizations and special interest groups in shaping Congress’s legislative agenda. In addition, he studies how lawmakers’ backgrounds, interests, districts, and ambitions affect their ability to advance bills through the legislative process and into law. His research has been published in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Interest Groups & Advocacy, and other outlets. Dr. Lorenz is a faculty affiliate at the non-partisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, contributing to a research base that national organizations are using to “Build a Better Congress”. He teaches courses on research methods, American political institutions, Congress, Interest Groups, and Advocacy & Persuasion.
Prior to coming to Nebraska, Dr. Lorenz was a postdoctoral fellow at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He also holds degrees from Stanford University and Duke University.
Matthew Green is an ordinary professor of politics and an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. He has taught at Catholic University since 2005.
Professor Green teaches a variety of courses in American politics, focusing in particular on political institutions, state and local politics, federalism, and methodology. He developed a course on recent political events called Politics in the Age of Trump, and also helped develop and co-teach the class Washington Past and Present, an interdisciplinary introduction to the city of Washington, D.C. that is unique to Catholic University. Green has written a number of books and articles about American politics. His articles have appeared in American Politics Research, Electoral Studies, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and other journals. His most recent book, Legislative Hardball (Cambridge University Press, 2019), examines the origins and influence of the House Freedom Caucus.
He is also a staff writer for Mischiefs of Faction, a blog about political parties, and his blog posts on other sites can be found here - https://www.mischiefsoffaction.com.
Phil Kiko is at home equally in the Legislative and Executive Branches. As Chief Administrative Officer for the U. S. House of Representatives under both House Speakers Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis), Phil managed approximately 800 employees and contractors and a $200 million budget.
Previously Phil served as Chief of Staff and General Counsel to both the House Judiciary and House Administration Committees and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Science Committee. Under leadership of the Chairs, he has directed national congressional investigations and overseen hundreds of oversight hearings and committee mark-ups. While serving in the Judiciary Committee, one of the most active committees in Congress, Phil successfully shepherded more than a 100 bills through Congress that have been enacted into law, including the Patriot Act and its extensions, the Voting Rights Act, Violence Against Women Act, Children’s Protection Act, Bankruptcy Reform, and legislation protecting intellectual property rights, to name a few.
Katherine M. Gehl is a business leader, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. Corresponding with the release of her first book, “The Politics Industry,” co-authored with Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter, and in order to make good on the promise of political innovation found in its pages, Gehl founded The Institute for Political Innovation.
Gehl is the former president and CEO of Gehl Foods, a $250 million high- tech food manufacturing company in Wisconsin, where she led an aggressive and transformational turnaround, receiving multiple awards, before selling the company in 2015—in part to dedicate more time to political innovation. In 2013 Gehl applied the traditional tools of business analysis for the first time to politics in order to uncover the root cause of its dysfunction—the unhealthy competition in what she called the politics industry. In 2016 she invited Porter to join her in her work, and they co-authored the 2017 Harvard Business School publication “Why Competition in the Politics Industry Is Failing America: A Strategy for Reinvigorating Our Democracy.” Its enthusiastic reception led to their book.
Gehl serves on the boards of Unite America, Business for America, and New America. She is the honorary co-chair of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR). In 2018 Gehl cofounded Democracy Found, an initiative dedicated to establishing Final-Five Voting in Wisconsin for congressional elections.
Tom Wickham, former Parliamentarian of the U.S. House of Representatives, serves as senior vice president of State & Local Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Wickham leads the Chamber’s new division that monitors state and local policy developments and coordinates state and local policy advocacy strategies within the existing Chamber framework.
As a nonpartisan House official for over 25 years, Wickham provided essential guidance to leadership, committees, and members as part of the development and execution of legislative strategy. In leading an office that reviewed every measure that came before the House, he has a command of a broad range of subject matters covering all aspects of government policy. During numerous high-profile legislative events, Wickham counseled speakers of the House, vice presidents, and countless members and senators on their constitutional and statutory responsibilities.
Timothy M. LaPira, PhD, is professor of political science at James Madison University in Virginia and faculty affiliate at the Center for Effective Lawmaking at the University of Virginia. His expertise is on Congress, interest groups, and lobbying. His books include Revolving Door Lobbying: Public Service, Private Influence, and the Unequal Representation of Interests (University Press of Kansas, 2017) and Congress Overwhelmed: The Decline of Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform (University of Chicago Press, 2020). His research has been funded by The National Science Foundation, Sunlight Foundation, Democracy Fund, Hewlett Foundation, the American Political Science Association, Data for Progress, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, and the Dirksen Congressional Center. He has written more than twenty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and serves on the editorial boards for the academic journals Legislative Studies Quarterly and Interest Groups & Advocacy. He previously worked on Capitol Hill as the American Political Science Association Public Service Fellow at the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and as a legislative assistant to a member of Congress in the 1990s. LaPira was also a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, where he was responsible for developing the Lobbying and Revolving Door databases on OpenSecrets.org.
Kenneth Lowande studies American political institutions and policymaking. He has published research on congressional oversight, presidential power, and policy implementation. Lowande previously held research fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University.
Alexander Furnas is a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Science of Science and Innovation in the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and Researcher at University of Michigan. He received a Ph.D in Political Science at the University of Michigan in 2020 in American Politics (major subfield) and Quantitative Methods (minor Subfield). Furnas specializes in the role of information and expertise in the policymaking. His dissertation examines the conditions under which Congress uses privately provisioned information produced by outside organizations in the policymaking process. More generally, Furnas studies interest groups, Congress, the intersection of science and politics, policy making and elite political behavior using survey, text analysis and network methods. Furnas also has ongoing research projects on congressional staff capacity, interest group ideal point estimation, lobbying firms, and text reuse detection.
FERGUS M. BORDEWICH is the author of eight non-fiction books: CONGRESS AT WAR: How Republican Reformers Fought The Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, And Remade America, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020); THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government (Simon & Schuster, 2016. Winner of the 2019 D.B. Hardeman Prize), AMERICA'S GREAT DEBATE: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union (Simon & Schuster, 2012. Winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Times History Prize); WASHINGTON: The Making of the American Capital (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2008); BOUND FOR CANAAN: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2005); MY MOTHER'S GHOST, a memoir (Doubleday, 2001); KILLING THE WHITE MAN'S INDIAN: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century (Doubleday, 1996); and CATHAY: A Journey in Search of Old China (Prentice Hall Press, 1991). He lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife, Jean Parvin Bordewich.
Brian Baird, founder and Chair of the NMCFS, served for twelve years in the United States House of Representatives (WA-3, 1999-2011). He holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Wyoming, practiced clinically for twenty years, has written three books, served as a university president, and was an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
During his time in office Congressman Baird frequently visited with members of the armed forces and with organizations and individuals doing other forms of service work in his district and overseas. He has witnessed first hand the commitment, generosity and sacrifices of countless Americans who put service over self to better their communities, the nation and the world.
Keith Allred became the Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse on January 1, 2019. He was recruited to lead NICD because he had recently launched CommonSense American, a new organization that brings Republicans, Democrats, and Independents together from across the country to find and champion solutions with broad support. Impressed by the successful five-year state pilot, leadership invited Keith to make NICD the platform for CommonSense American and to integrate it with NICD’s other programs to revive civility and enhance problem solving across the partisan divide. The Common Interest, the state-level pilot organization, operated in Idaho from 2005 – 2009. Its major legislative achievements led the Idaho Democratic Party to make the unusual move of asking him, as an independent, to be their nominee for Governor in 2010. Prior to returning home to pilot the citizens’ group, Keith became the first professor of negotiation and conflict resolution hired by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He started his academic career as a professor at Columbia.
Scott Adler came to CU Boulder in the fall of 1996, when he joined the faculty as a professor of political science. He became dean of the Graduate School in June 2019. Scott served as chair of the Political Science department and was founding director of the department’s American Politics Research Lab. He has also served as director of the Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences, 2016–18, and as director of graduate studies in Political Science, 2013–16. Scott’s research uses theoretical models of legislative organization to examine congressional agenda setting and committee power. He is the author of Why Congressional Reforms Fail: Reelection and the House Committee System (University of Chicago Press, 2002), which was awarded the Alan Rosenthal Prize from the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association, and Congress and the Politics of Problem Solving (Cambridge University Press, 2012, co-authored with John Wilkerson). He is co-editor of The Macropolitics of Congress (Princeton University Press, 2006). His most recent book, The U.S. Congress (W.W. Norton, 2019, co-authored with Jeffrey Jenkins and Charles Shipan) is a widely used textbook for students of Congress.
Josh McCrain is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Emory University and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was previously a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. His research focuses on public policy, political economy, media and politics, and computational social science within American politics. His current projects involve revolving door lobbying, health policy, local media in the United States, and R for data science. His work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. It has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, Vox, CNBC, New York Magazine, and Nature Human Behavior. Prior to entering academia, Josh worked in lobbying and advocacy for non-profit organizations in Washington D.C.
William Timmons entered Congress in 2019 with a commitment to bring real reform to Washington. His experience as a prosecutor and small business owner inspired him to run for public office. As a state senator, he fought for accountability and transparency in Columbia. In Congress, William is a voice for Upstate residents and South Carolina’s business community as a member of the Financial Services Committee. In addition to his role on the committee, William was chosen by the Republican Leader to serve as Vice Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and elected by his classmates to represent them on the Republican Steering Committee. William is a lifelong member of Christ Church in Greenville and also serves as a JAG Officer and Captain in the South Carolina Air National Guard. He and his wife, Sarah, live in Greenville.
Rachel Augustine Potter is an Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the hidden politics of procedure and process in American political institutions, with a particular focus on the bureaucracy and regulation.
Her book Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press, 2019) received two awards from American Political Science Association and an award from the National Academy of Public Administration. Her other research has appeared in the Journal of Politics, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and Journal of Public Policy, among other journals.
Dr. Potter has testified before Congress and is a regular contributor to the Brookings Institution Center on Regulation and Markets. Before becoming a political scientist, she worked for a number of government bureaucracies, including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Professor Theriault, who is fascinated by congressional decision-making, is currently researching the effect of interpersonal relationships within the U.S. Congress. He has published five books: Congress: The First Branch (with Mickey Edwards; Oxford University Press, 2020), The Great Broadening (with Bryan Jones and Michelle Whyman; University of Chicago Press, 2019), The Gingrich Senators (Oxford University Press, 2013), Party Polarization in Congress (Cambridge University Press, 2008), and The Power of the People (Ohio State University Press, 2005). He has also published numerous articles in a variety of journals on subjects ranging from presidential rhetoric to congressional careers and the Louisiana Purchase to the Pendleton Act of 1883.
Professor Theriault, whose classes include the U.S. Congress, Congressional Elections, Party Polarization in the United States, and the Politics of the Catholic Church, is passionate about teaching. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the Friar Society Teaching Fellowship (the biggest undergraduate teaching award at UT) in 2009, UT Professor the Year in 2011, and the Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014. In 2012, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He has experienced no greater honor than “officiating” at two weddings for former students.
Professor Theriault, who grew up in Michigan, has been to all 50 states (though only 49 state capitols) and six continents. His research and teaching have taken him to among other places Seoul, Rome, and Berlin. He is a competitive tennis player and an avid runner, having competed twice in the Boston Marathon. Before obtaining his Ph.D. from Stanford University (in 2001; M.A. in Political Science in 2000), he attended the University of Richmond (B.A., 1993), and the University of Rochester (M.S. in Public Policy Analysis, 1996).
Keith Hall has more than 25 years of public service, most recently as the ninth Director of the Congressional Budget Office. He also served as the Chief Economist and Director of Economics at the International Trade Commission (ITC), a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, the thirteenth Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Chief Economist for the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, the Chief Economist for the Department of Commerce, a senior international economist for the ITC, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, and an international economist at the Department of Treasury. In those positions, he worked on a wide variety of topics, including labor market analysis and policy, economic conditions and measurement, macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, international economics and policy, and computational partial equilibrium modeling. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from Purdue University.
Keith is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the National Association of Business Economists. He has provided testimony at Congressional hearings dozens of times on a large number of topics to a number of different committees – particularly to the two budget committees and the Joint Economic Committee.
David Price represents North Carolina's Fourth District a rapidly growing, research-and-education-focused district that includes all of Durham, Franklin, Granville and Orange counties as well as parts of Chatham, Wake, and Vance counties. He received his undergraduate degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and went on to Yale University to earn a Bachelor of Divinity as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science. Before he began serving in Congress in 1987, David was a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University. He is the author of four books on Congress and the American political system. David is North Carolina’s only member of the House Appropriations Committee and serves as the Chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
He also serves on the Subcommittee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. He also serves on the House Budget Committee. He is a recognized leader on foreign policy, serving as Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership and an outspoken advocate for Middle East peace. In North Carolina, David's constituents know him as a strong supporter of education, accessible health care, affordable housing, clean air and water, scientific research, and improved transportation alternatives.
Professor Neblo's research focuses on deliberative democracy and political psychology. His most recent book, Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (with Kevin Esterling and David Lazer; Cambridge University Press, 2018), develops and tests a new model of politics connecting citizens and elected officials to improve representative government. He was invited to testify before Congress about these findings. His first book, Deliberative Democracy between Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2015), cuts across the deadlock between supporters of deliberative theory and their empirical critics by focusing on the core goals of the larger deliberative political system. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a wide range of academic journals, including Science, The American Political Science Review, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Political Philosophy, Political Analysis, Public Opinion Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, Political Communication, Social Science & Medicine, among others.
Neblo holds a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS) from Northwestern University. He is the founding director of Ohio State’s Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) and its signature initiative Connecting to Congress. He teaches courses in deliberative democratic and general political theory from the introductory level up to graduate seminars, as well as graduate courses on Social Theory for Social Scientists and the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas. He has tertiary interests in Congressional reform, applied philosophy of social science, politics and the emotions, race politics, health politics, immigration, politics and technology, and politics and the arts. Neblo has been the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Carnegie Corporation, the Democracy Fund, the Kettering Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Veterans Administration, the International Society for Political Psychology, the Ash Institute, and a large grant from the National Science Foundation to design and study Deliberative Town Hall meetings with the cooperation of members of the U.S. Congress.
Andy Ballard is an assistant professor in the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs at American University, where he is affiliated with the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the Center for Data Science. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Duke University, where he was also a part of the Political Institutions and Public Choice Program.
Ballard's research focuses on American politics and he is particularly interested in legislative politics, political parties, text analysis, machine learning, and the interplay between legislators and the public. He address questions that can be tackled by combining cutting-edge methods with sound theoretical perspectives, such as the predictability of legislative behavior, the limits of party power, how and when parties seek to influence their members, and the role of the minority party in Congress.
Beyond this, he has worked on a variety of topics, such as online advertising in Presidential campaigns, the role of academic economists in shaping public opinion on economic policy issues, member responses to primary challenges in Congressional elections, and more.
Matthew Stephenson is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches administrative law, legislation and regulation, anti-corruption law, and political economy of public law. His research focuses on the application of positive political theory to public law, particularly in the areas of administrative procedure, anti-corruption, judicial institutions, and separation of powers. Prior to joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Professor Stephenson clerked for Senior Judge Stephen Williams on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He received his J.D. and Ph.D. (political science) from Harvard in 2003, and his B.A. from Harvard College in 1997.
Sarah Binder is senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and professor of political science at George Washington University, where she specializes in Congress and legislative politics. Binder’s current research explores the historical and contemporary relationship between Congress and the Federal Reserve, and she is the co-author with Mark Spindel of The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve (Princeton University Press, 2017). She is also an associate editor of The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog.
Binder is a former co-editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly, a co-author with Forrest Maltzman of Advice and Dissent: The Struggle to Shape the Federal Judiciary (Brookings, 2009), author of Stalemate: Causes and Consequences of Legislative Gridlock (Brookings, 2003), Minority Rights, Majority Rule: Partisanship and the Development of Congress (Cambridge University Press, 1997), and co-author with Steven S. Smith of Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate (Brookings, 1997). Her other work on Congressional politics has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and elsewhere.
As a north Georgia country boy, Tom’s life has been fueled by one slogan his father shared with him: Dream Big, Work Hard, and Achieve Much.
He’s been a small business owner, a real estate investor, a Georgia State Representative and a member of Congress. As a U.S. Representative for more than a decade, he’s prioritized relationship building, pursuing creative solutions and executable strategies to address some of the biggest challenges facing our country, placing him in the center of all major policy decisions in Washington.
As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House, overseeing more than a trillion dollars of annual spending, he has a unique understanding of the complexities of government funding, operations and the agencies at the forefront of change.
As Vice Chair of the Special Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, he’s led the effort to modernize one of our nation's oldest institutions. Pushing the envelope and disrupting the status quo to get Congress working better for all Americans.
Professor Ruth Bloch Rubin joined the Reforming Congress Series to discuss intraparty organizations, how leadership power affects these organizations, and how rules effect Congress.
About Professor Ruth Bloch Rubin:
Ruth Bloch Rubin studies American politics, with a substantive focus on legislative institutions, political parties, and American political development. Combining archival and interview data, her current work explores how divisions within political parties drive congressional development and structure lawmaking. Challenging existing theories of party power in Congress, she highlights the role of intraparty organizations in shaping both substantive and procedural change. Bloch Rubin is also working on a project that examines Congress’s provision of health services to American Indians in the early nineteenth century. She joins the University of Chicago from Harvard University, where she was Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research. She earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2014.
Chris Stirewalt from The Dispatch joined the Reforming Congress Interview Series to talk about how the media effects Congress and how congressional reporting has changed over time.
About Chris Stirewalt:
Chris Stirewalt is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on American politics, voting trends, public opinion, and the media. He is concurrently a contributing editor and weekly columnist for The Dispatch. Before joining AEI, he was political editor of Fox News Channel, where he helped coordinate political coverage across the network and specialized in on-air analysis of polls and voting trends.
Before joining Fox News Channel, Mr. Stirewalt served as political editor of the Washington Examiner, where he wrote a twice-weekly column and led political coverage for the newspaper. He also served as political editor of the Charleston Daily Mail and West Virginia Media. Mr. Stirewalt began his career at the Wheeling Intelligencer in West Virginia.
A well-known political commentator, Mr. Stirewalt wrote about his personal experience of the 2020 election in the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of “Every Man a King: A Short, Colorful History of American Populists” (Twelve Books, 2018), in which he looks at American populism through the history of seven famous populists.
Mr. Stirewalt is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he studied history.
James Wallner joins the Reforming Congress Interview Series to discuss his time in the Senate, the rules & processes in the Senate, and the impact a feedback loop could have on the institution.
About James Wallner:
James Wallner is a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, where he writes about the theory and practice of democratic politics. His research focuses on the separation of powers, Congress, political parties, and the federal policy process. He also serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University.
Before joining R Street, James was the Group Vice President for Research at the Heritage Foundation. He spent over a decade on Capitol Hill earlier in his career working in senior positions in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He was the Executive Director of the Senate Steering Committee during the chairmanships of Pat Toomey and Mike Lee. In that capacity, he served as the principal parliamentary advisor to the chairman and Steering’s 16-member Executive Committee. Before this, he served as Legislative Director to Jeff Sessions and Pat Toomey. He began his career on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant in the House of Representatives.
In this episode of the Reforming Congress Interview Series, Michael D Minta joins us to discuss minority groups and their behavior in Congress, how redistricting would affect Congress, and his experience with sunset provisions.
Michael D. Minta is an associate professor in Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is one of the country’s leading experts in the study of the political representation of African American, Latino, and women interests in the United States. His book, Oversight: Representing Black and Latino Interests in Congress is a valuable guide that scholars, political leaders, and the legal community consult when assessing whether diversity in legislatures improves responsiveness to minority interests. Dr. Minta regularly teaches popular courses in U.S. government pertaining to African American politics, congressional politics, and interest group advocacy.
Professor Nolan McCarty of Princeton University joins the Reforming Congress Interview Series to discuss polarization, how game theory can be applied to Congress, and how the incentive structure works in terms of legislative and voting behaviors.
About Nolan McCarty
Nolan McCarty is the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs. He was formerly the chair of the Department of Politics and the associate dean at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His research interests include U.S. politics, democratic political institutions, and political game theory. He is the recipient of the Robert Eckles Swain National Fellowship from the Hoover Institution and the John M. Olin Fellowship in Political Economy. He has co-authored three books: Political Game Theory (2006, Cambridge University Press with Adam Meirowitz), Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches (2006, MIT Press with Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal) and Political Bubbles: Financial Crises and the Failure of American Democracy (with Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal). In 2010, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He earned his A.B. from the University of Chicago and his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University.
Professor Jennifer Victor from George Mason University joins the Reforming Congress Series to discuss caucuses and lobbyists and its effect on Congress. She also discusses the networks that are healthy in Congress, the affect transparency has on building on relationships, and she answers the lightning round questions that each guest answers on the program.
About Professor Jennifer Victor:
Jennifer Nicoll Victor is Associate Professor of Political Science at George Mason University’s Schar School Policy and Government.
Professor Victor studies the U.S. Congress, legislative organization and behavior, social network methods, political parties, campaign finance, organized interest groups, and lobbying. She is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Political Networks (2017). She is the co-author (with Nils Ringe) of Bridging the Information Gap: Legislative Member Organizations in the United States and the European Union (U. Michigan Press 2013). Professor Victor has published research in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, American Politics Research, Party Politics, Interest Groups & Advocacy, P.S.: Political Science and Politics, and elsewhere. In 2019 she was awarded George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award.
This week, Yuval Levin joins the Reforming Congress Interview Series to discuss the appropriate role of parties in Congress, how persuasion works in Congress, and the incentives members of Congress have. About Yuval Levin: Yuval Levin is the founding and current editor of National Affairs. He is also the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. He is a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a contributing editor to National Review.
Senator Christopher J. Dodd is a member of Arnold & Porter's Legislative and Public Policy group. His practice focuses on helping clients navigate the complex issues around numerous industries, including financial services, media and entertainment, intellectual property and data privacy, telecommunications, healthcare, national security, trade, and sovereigns. With more than three decades of experience on Capitol Hill, Senator Dodd brings strategic counsel to those seeking to address governmental, political, and business challenges.
Senator Dodd joined the firm after a long and distinguished career in the United States Senate, representing the State of Connecticut. He also served three terms in the US House of Representatives, representing Connecticut's 2nd District. During his tenure as Senator, he was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and served on the Committees on Foreign Relations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, among others. He was a principal author of numerous bills that became law, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Child Care Act, and the Help America Vote Act, among others, and he was deeply involved in the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Mickey Edwards is a visiting lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. Before coming to Princeton he taught for 11 years at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was the John Quincy Adams Lecturer in Legislative Practice. Edwards has also been a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Law School and a visiting professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. Before beginning a teaching career, Edwards was a member of Congress for 16 years and was a member of the House Republican Leadership, a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, and the ranking member of the House subcommittee on foreign operations.
Edwards' primary interest is in the field of constitutional studies. He is a director of The Constitution Project, has co-chaired task forces on the war power, on judicial independence, and on the constitutional amendment process, and was a member of the American Bar Association Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements. He has written, appeared on radio and television, and testified before Congress repeatedly on these and other subjects related to the Constitution.
Edwards has been a weekly political commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered" and a weekly opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers. He is author or co-author of three books, has written chapters in others, and is currently writing a book on American conservatism and the Constitution to be published next Spring by Oxford University Press.
Derek Kilmer serves as the United States Representative of Washington’s 6th Congressional District.
With over a decade of experience working in economic development in the Puget Sound region, Derek Kilmer is focused on getting our economy and our Congress back to work. Derek has a strong record as a problem solver for Washington families and he's been recognized by veterans organizations for his support of our troops, their families, and those who have served. As the dad of two, he is working to make sure all our children receive a quality education. He is committed to honoring our promises to seniors by protecting Social Security and Medicare. Derek grew up on the Olympic Peninsula and has worked to promote local economic development and to be responsible stewards of our natural resources.
Derek was reelected to a fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 and serves on the House Appropriations Committee, one of only four ‘exclusive’ committees in the House. Derek serves on the Interior and Environment Subcommittee, Defense Subcommittee, and Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. He was also appointed to serve as the Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, a bipartisan Committee formed to investigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings, and develop recommendations to make Congress more effective, efficient, and transparent on behalf of the American people.
Dr. Tim Persons is GAO's Chief Scientist and one of two Managing Directors of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team. The team conducts technology assessments, provides oversight of federal science and technology programs, provides technical assistance on science and technologies issues to the Congress, and develops innovative analytical techniques for carrying out audits and evaluations. Tim joined GAO in July 2008. Prior to that, he served in key executive roles at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and the National Security Agency. Dr. Persons received his B.Sc. in Physics from James Madison University, his M.Sc. in Nuclear Physics from Emory University, and his M.Sc. in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Wake Forest University.
Dr. Tim Persons is GAO's Chief Scientist and one of two Managing Directors of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team. The team conducts technology assessments, provides oversight of federal science and technology programs, provides technical assistance on science and technologies issues to the Congress, and develops innovative analytical techniques for carrying out audits and evaluations. Tim joined GAO in July 2008. Prior to that, he served in key executive roles at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and the National Security Agency. Dr. Persons received his B.Sc. in Physics from James Madison University, his M.Sc. in Nuclear Physics from Emory University, and his M.Sc. in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Wake Forest University.
Schick came to the School of Public Policy from the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, where he served as a senior specialist. His professional history includes research positions at the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution and teaching positions at Tufts University and Syracuse University. Schick's extensive list of publications includes Congress and Money: Spending, Taxing, and Budgeting (American Society for Public Administration, 1987), Making Economic Policy in Congress (American Enterprise Institute, 1984), The Capacity to Budget (1990), The Budget Puzzle (1993) and The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process (1995). He is founding editor of the professional journal, Public Budgeting and Finance. Schick consults for many organizations at federal, state, and local levels. He directed a multinational study of budget practices in various industrialized countries and presently directs a study of the far-reaching reforms in the public sector in six countries: Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. Among Schick's awards are the Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Society for Public Administration Waldo Prize.
Schick came to the School of Public Policy from the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, where he served as a senior specialist. His professional history includes research positions at the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution and teaching positions at Tufts University and Syracuse University. Schick's extensive list of publications includes Congress and Money: Spending, Taxing, and Budgeting (American Society for Public Administration, 1987), Making Economic Policy in Congress (American Enterprise Institute, 1984), The Capacity to Budget (1990), The Budget Puzzle (1993) and The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process (1995). He is founding editor of the professional journal, Public Budgeting and Finance. Schick consults for many organizations at federal, state, and local levels. He directed a multinational study of budget practices in various industrialized countries and presently directs a study of the far-reaching reforms in the public sector in six countries: Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. Among Schick's awards are the Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Society for Public Administration Waldo Prize.
Joshua C. Huder, Ph.D., joined the Government Affairs Institute as a Senior Fellow in 2013. He primarily teaches courses on American government, Congress, advanced legislative process, separation of powers, and the federal budget process. He has provided political analysis to several news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly, Politico, Newsweek, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg News, CNN, and more. Prior to joining GAI, Josh worked on the Hill as an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow. His portfolio included legislative procedure, government affairs, financial services, voting rights, campaign finance, trade, small business, and other issues. He is currently writing a book on the history of congressional procedure and politics since 1879.
Joshua C. Huder, Ph.D., joined the Government Affairs Institute as a Senior Fellow in 2013. He primarily teaches courses on American government, Congress, advanced legislative process, separation of powers, and the federal budget process. He has provided political analysis to several news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly, Politico, Newsweek, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg News, CNN, and more. Prior to joining GAI, Josh worked on the Hill as an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow. His portfolio included legislative procedure, government affairs, financial services, voting rights, campaign finance, trade, small business, and other issues. He is currently writing a book on the history of congressional procedure and politics since 1879.
Eric Schickler is Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of three books which have won the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for the best book on legislative politics: Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (2001), Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the United States Senate (2006, with Gregory Wawro), and Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power (2016, with Douglas Kriner; also winner of the Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the best book on executive politics). His book, Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965, was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book on government, politics or international affairs published in 2016, and is co-winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize for the best book in history and politics from the previous two calendar years. He is also the co-author of Partisan Hearts and Minds, which was published in 2002. He has authored or co-authored articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Polity, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Social Science History. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American politics, the U.S. Congress, rational choice theory, American political development, and public opinion.
Eric Schickler is Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of three books which have won the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for the best book on legislative politics: Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (2001), Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the United States Senate (2006, with Gregory Wawro), and Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power (2016, with Douglas Kriner; also winner of the Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the best book on executive politics). His book, Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965, was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book on government, politics or international affairs published in 2016, and is co-winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize for the best book in history and politics from the previous two calendar years. He is also the co-author of Partisan Hearts and Minds, which was published in 2002. He has authored or co-authored articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Polity, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Social Science History. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American politics, the U.S. Congress, rational choice theory, American political development, and public opinion.
Maya MacGuineas is the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax, and economic policy. As a leading budget expert for the past twenty years and a political independent, she has worked closely with members of both parties and serves as a trusted resource on Capitol Hill. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has been quoted and published in numerous outlets and appears regularly as a commentator on television.
Maya MacGuineas is the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax, and economic policy. As a leading budget expert for the past twenty years and a political independent, she has worked closely with members of both parties and serves as a trusted resource on Capitol Hill. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has been quoted and published in numerous outlets and appears regularly as a commentator on television.
Kevin Esterling is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and the Director of the Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy (TeCD Lab), at the University of California, Riverside. He is the past interim dean of the UCR Graduate Division. His research focuses on institutional design for communication in democratic politics, and he has interests in Bayesian statistics, experimental design, and science ethics and validity. His current work focuses on deliberative democracy and the design of technology that leads citizens to engage constructively in public discourse. He is the author of The Political Economy of Expertise: Information and Efficiency in American National Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2004) and co-author of Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He has published in a number of journals, including the American Political Science Review, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Analysis, and the Journal of Politics. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, The Democracy Fund, and the MacArthur Foundation. Esterling was previously a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley and a postdoctoral research fellow at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1999.
Kevin Esterling is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and the Director of the Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy (TeCD Lab), at the University of California, Riverside. He is the past interim dean of the UCR Graduate Division. His research focuses on institutional design for communication in democratic politics, and he has interests in Bayesian statistics, experimental design, and science ethics and validity. His current work focuses on deliberative democracy and the design of technology that leads citizens to engage constructively in public discourse. He is the author of The Political Economy of Expertise: Information and Efficiency in American National Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2004) and co-author of Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He has published in a number of journals, including the American Political Science Review, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Analysis, and the Journal of Politics. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, The Democracy Fund, and the MacArthur Foundation. Esterling was previously a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley and a postdoctoral research fellow at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1999.
Joseph Matal is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of Haynes and Boone, LLP. Joe has served as both the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Acting Director and Acting Solicitor. As Acting Solicitor, he defended the agency in intellectual property cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. In his role in the Solicitor’s Office, he participated in briefing almost every major case involving PTAB trials that has come before the Federal Circuit, including cases that have defined the Board’s powers and the evidence that it may consider, the content of final decisions, and the burdens and scope of motions to amend. Recent cases include Uniloc v. Hulu, Thryv v. Click-to-Call, and Aqua Products v. Matal. Previously, Joe served in senior legal roles for more than a decade for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he negotiated and drafted many of the key provisions of the America Invents Act.
Joseph Matal is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of Haynes and Boone, LLP. Joe has served as both the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Acting Director and Acting Solicitor. As Acting Solicitor, he defended the agency in intellectual property cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. In his role in the Solicitor’s Office, he participated in briefing almost every major case involving PTAB trials that has come before the Federal Circuit, including cases that have defined the Board’s powers and the evidence that it may consider, the content of final decisions, and the burdens and scope of motions to amend. Recent cases include Uniloc v. Hulu, Thryv v. Click-to-Call, and Aqua Products v. Matal. Previously, Joe served in senior legal roles for more than a decade for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he negotiated and drafted many of the key provisions of the America Invents Act.
Daniel Schuman leads Demand Progress and Demand Progress Education Fund’s efforts on issues that concern government transparency, accountability, ethics, and reform; protecting civil liberties; and strengthening the legislative branch. He co-founded the Congressional Data Coalition, which brings together organizations from across the political spectrum to advocate for a tech-savvy Congress; created the First Branch Forecast, a website that contains in-depth research on Congress and a weekly newsletter; built EveryCRSReport, a website containing all CRS Reports; co-directs FutureCongress, a collaboration on improving science and technology expertise in the legislative branch; and runs the Transparency RoundTable, which brings together 50+ organizations from across the political spectrum to collaborate on transparency issues.
Daniel Schuman leads Demand Progress and Demand Progress Education Fund’s efforts on issues that concern government transparency, accountability, ethics, and reform; protecting civil liberties; and strengthening the legislative branch. He co-founded the Congressional Data Coalition, which brings together organizations from across the political spectrum to advocate for a tech-savvy Congress; created the First Branch Forecast, a website that contains in-depth research on Congress and a weekly newsletter; built EveryCRSReport, a website containing all CRS Reports; co-directs FutureCongress, a collaboration on improving science and technology expertise in the legislative branch; and runs the Transparency RoundTable, which brings together 50+ organizations from across the political spectrum to collaborate on transparency issues.
Donald R. Wolfensberger is a congressional fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a resident scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He served as director of the Congress Project at the Wilson Center from 1999 to 2012. He writes a twice-monthly column, “Procedural Politics,” for Roll Call. He is the author of Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial (Johns Hopkins University Press, April 2000). Mr. Wolfensberger worked for 28 years as a staff member in the House of Representatives, rising to the position of chief-of-staff of the House Rules Committee in the 104th Congress (1995–96)—the first Congress in which Republicans controlled the House majority in 40-years. He is an expert on parliamentary rules and procedures and played a key role in developing House reform proposals for the Republican leadership over the years, culminating in their adoption as House rules when the GOP won majority control in 1995. He also is a former radio news reporter and newscaster and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa in 1967–68.
Donald R. Wolfensberger is a congressional fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a resident scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He served as director of the Congress Project at the Wilson Center from 1999 to 2012. He writes a twice-monthly column, “Procedural Politics,” for Roll Call. He is the author of Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial (Johns Hopkins University Press, April 2000). Mr. Wolfensberger worked for 28 years as a staff member in the House of Representatives, rising to the position of chief-of-staff of the House Rules Committee in the 104th Congress (1995–96)—the first Congress in which Republicans controlled the House majority in 40-years. He is an expert on parliamentary rules and procedures and played a key role in developing House reform proposals for the Republican leadership over the years, culminating in their adoption as House rules when the GOP won majority control in 1995. He also is a former radio news reporter and newscaster and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa in 1967–68.
Anthony J. Madonna is an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Georgia. He received his PhD in political science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008. His research interests include American political institutions and development, congressional politics and procedure and presidential politics. His work has appeared in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Politics, Presidential Studies Quarterly and the Illinois Law Review.
Anthony J. Madonna is an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Georgia. He received his PhD in political science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008. His research interests include American political institutions and development, congressional politics and procedure and presidential politics. His work has appeared in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Politics, Presidential Studies Quarterly and the Illinois Law Review.
Betsy Wright Hawkings served as chief of staff for four members of Congress over 25 years, including her hometown Congressman Christopher Shays, helping build bipartisan coalitions to balance the federal budget in 1995-96; apply civil rights, fair labor standards and workplace safety laws to Congress; and establish the 9-11 Commission and implement its recommendations. She served as the founding Managing Director of Democracy Fund’s Principled Leadership and Effective Governance program, where she built a grant portfolio focused on fostering dialogue across the ideological spectrum and reducing incentives for hyper-partisanship and gridlock in government, developing campaigns for congressional systems, processes and procedures, and innovative programs to deepen leadership development for members of Congress and staff.
Betsy Wright Hawkings served as chief of staff for four members of Congress over 25 years, including her hometown Congressman Christopher Shays, helping build bipartisan coalitions to balance the federal budget in 1995-96; apply civil rights, fair labor standards and workplace safety laws to Congress; and establish the 9-11 Commission and implement its recommendations. She served as the founding Managing Director of Democracy Fund’s Principled Leadership and Effective Governance program, where she built a grant portfolio focused on fostering dialogue across the ideological spectrum and reducing incentives for hyper-partisanship and gridlock in government, developing campaigns for congressional systems, processes and procedures, and innovative programs to deepen leadership development for members of Congress and staff.
Derek Willis is a news applications developer at ProPublica, focusing on politics and elections. He previously worked as a developer and reporter at The New York Times, a database editor at The Washington Post, and at the Center for Public Integrity and Congressional Quarterly. He began his journalism career at The Palm Beach Post. He is a co-founder of OpenElections, a project to collect and publish election results from all 50 states.
Derek Willis is a news applications developer at ProPublica, focusing on politics and elections. He previously worked as a developer and reporter at The New York Times, a database editor at The Washington Post, and at the Center for Public Integrity and Congressional Quarterly. He began his journalism career at The Palm Beach Post. He is a co-founder of OpenElections, a project to collect and publish election results from all 50 states.
Kyle Nevins is a seasoned former top aide to the House Republican Leadership with extensive experience in the process and politics of the U.S. Congress. He specializes in a wide variety of business community and advocacy issues and has been recognized for his government affairs work by Politico Magazine as one of “50 Politicos to Watch” and The Hill as one of Washington’s “Top Lobbyists.” Prior to co-founding Harbinger Strategies, Kyle spent two years as Principal at Capitol Counsel. Kyle’s congressional career spanned over a decade in the U.S. House, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), as well as Director of Floor Operations to then-Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO). Kyle helped lead the House Republican vote-counting operation throughout the 2000s, influencing key policy decisions during both the Bush and Obama Administrations. Following Republicans retaking of the majority in 2011, Kyle oversaw House committee and floor activity, guiding the chamber’s legislative strategy on impactful policy accomplishments, including trade agreements, the JOBS Act, and the so-called “fiscal cliff.” His work on Capitol Hill was recognized in National Journal, Politico, Roll Call, and The Hill.
Kyle Nevins is a seasoned former top aide to the House Republican Leadership with extensive experience in the process and politics of the U.S. Congress. He specializes in a wide variety of business community and advocacy issues and has been recognized for his government affairs work by Politico Magazine as one of “50 Politicos to Watch” and The Hill as one of Washington’s “Top Lobbyists.” Prior to co-founding Harbinger Strategies, Kyle spent two years as Principal at Capitol Counsel. Kyle’s congressional career spanned over a decade in the U.S. House, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), as well as Director of Floor Operations to then-Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO). Kyle helped lead the House Republican vote-counting operation throughout the 2000s, influencing key policy decisions during both the Bush and Obama Administrations. Following Republicans retaking of the majority in 2011, Kyle oversaw House committee and floor activity, guiding the chamber’s legislative strategy on impactful policy accomplishments, including trade agreements, the JOBS Act, and the so-called “fiscal cliff.” His work on Capitol Hill was recognized in National Journal, Politico, Roll Call, and The Hill.
Zach Graves is the head of policy at Lincoln Network, where he manages the policy and programming team. His research and advocacy focuses on the intersection of technology and governance issues, including work to strengthen science and technology expertise and capacity in Congress. Before joining Lincoln, he was director of the R Street Institute’s technology and innovation policy program, where he remains an associate fellow. Prior to R Street, he worked at the Cato Institute. He is currently a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He is also a contributing editor at American Purpose magazine. He is a member of the Government Accountability Office’s Polaris Council, an advisory body of leading science and technology experts. Additionally, he is part of the Washington Post’s Technology 202 Network. In 2018-2019, he was a Technology and Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Ash Center. He holds a master’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis.
Zach Graves is the head of policy at Lincoln Network, where he manages the policy and programming team. His research and advocacy focuses on the intersection of technology and governance issues, including work to strengthen science and technology expertise and capacity in Congress. Before joining Lincoln, he was director of the R Street Institute’s technology and innovation policy program, where he remains an associate fellow. Prior to R Street, he worked at the Cato Institute. He is currently a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He is also a contributing editor at American Purpose magazine. He is a member of the Government Accountability Office’s Polaris Council, an advisory body of leading science and technology experts. Additionally, he is part of the Washington Post’s Technology 202 Network. In 2018-2019, he was a Technology and Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Ash Center. He holds a master’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis.
Prior to being elected to the House in 2013, Congressman Rodney Davis served as Projects Director for Congressman John Shimkus (IL-15) for 16 years. During his time in Congress, Davis has worked with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be an effective lawmaker. He has played an integral role in long-term reauthorizations to upgrade our waterway, highway, railway, and aviation systems. Additionally, his leadership on two Farm Bill Conference Committees has helped produce farm bills that provide certainty to our farmers, protect crop insurance, strengthen agricultural research, and improve protections for organic products.
Prior to being elected to the House in 2013, Congressman Rodney Davis served as Projects Director for Congressman John Shimkus (IL-15) for 16 years. During his time in Congress, Davis has worked with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be an effective lawmaker. He has played an integral role in long-term reauthorizations to upgrade our waterway, highway, railway, and aviation systems. Additionally, his leadership on two Farm Bill Conference Committees has helped produce farm bills that provide certainty to our farmers, protect crop insurance, strengthen agricultural research, and improve protections for organic products.
Since 2007, Mark Strand has been President of the Congressional Institute, overseeing the non-profit founded in 1987 that is dedicated to helping Members of Congress better serve their constituents and helping their constituents better understand the operations of the national legislature. Strand is a 2017 Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics Fellow. He is also an adjunct professor of legislative affairs at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and the coauthor of the book Surviving Inside Congress. He also writes on The Sausage Factory blog, which provides an inside look at legislative strategies and procedures. Strand spent nearly 24 years on Capitol Hill in both the House and the Senate, most recently serving as Chief of Staff to Senator Jim Talent (R-MO). He served as the Staff Director of the House Committee on Small Business when Talent was Chairman. He was also Chief of Staff for Reps. Bill Lowery (R-CA) and Stan Parris (R-VA). He has also served as a Legislative Director and a Press Secretary on Capitol Hill.
Since 2007, Mark Strand has been President of the Congressional Institute, overseeing the non-profit founded in 1987 that is dedicated to helping Members of Congress better serve their constituents and helping their constituents better understand the operations of the national legislature. Strand is a 2017 Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics Fellow. He is also an adjunct professor of legislative affairs at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and the coauthor of the book Surviving Inside Congress. He also writes on The Sausage Factory blog, which provides an inside look at legislative strategies and procedures. Strand spent nearly 24 years on Capitol Hill in both the House and the Senate, most recently serving as Chief of Staff to Senator Jim Talent (R-MO). He served as the Staff Director of the House Committee on Small Business when Talent was Chairman. He was also Chief of Staff for Reps. Bill Lowery (R-CA) and Stan Parris (R-VA). He has also served as a Legislative Director and a Press Secretary on Capitol Hill.
Anthony (Tony) Mills is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies the federal government’s role in scientific research and innovation (R&D funding and policy) as well as how to integrate scientific expertise into our governing institutions. He also focuses on the relationship between expert knowledge and democratic governance. Dr. Mills is concurrently a senior fellow at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and a scholar associate at the Society of Catholic Scientists
Anthony (Tony) Mills is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies the federal government’s role in scientific research and innovation (R&D funding and policy) as well as how to integrate scientific expertise into our governing institutions. He also focuses on the relationship between expert knowledge and democratic governance. Dr. Mills is concurrently a senior fellow at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and a scholar associate at the Society of Catholic Scientists
James M Curry is an associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah, and co-director of the Utah Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network. Curry's research focuses on U.S. politics and policymaking, especially the U.S. Congress. Specifically, he analyzes how contemporary legislative processes and institutions affect legislative politics, with a particular focus on the role of parties and leaders in the U.S. Congress. His book, Legislating in the Dark (2015, University of Chicago Press), examines how congressional leaders leverage their unique access to legislative information and resources to encourage their rank-and-file to support leadership decisions, and how rank-and-file members of Congress are often in the dark as the legislative process unfolds. Legislating in the Dark was selected as the recipient of the 2016 Alan Rosenthal Prize. Curry received his Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in 2011, and previously worked on Capitol Hill in the offices of Congressman Daniel Lipinski and the House Appropriations Committee.
James M Curry is an associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah, and co-director of the Utah Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network. Curry's research focuses on U.S. politics and policymaking, especially the U.S. Congress. Specifically, he analyzes how contemporary legislative processes and institutions affect legislative politics, with a particular focus on the role of parties and leaders in the U.S. Congress. His book, Legislating in the Dark (2015, University of Chicago Press), examines how congressional leaders leverage their unique access to legislative information and resources to encourage their rank-and-file to support leadership decisions, and how rank-and-file members of Congress are often in the dark as the legislative process unfolds. Legislating in the Dark was selected as the recipient of the 2016 Alan Rosenthal Prize. Curry received his Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in 2011, and previously worked on Capitol Hill in the offices of Congressman Daniel Lipinski and the House Appropriations Committee.
Frances E. Lee is jointly appointed in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs where she is Professor of Politics and Public Affairs. Lee has broad interests in American politics, with a special focus on congressional politics, national policymaking, party politics, and representation. She is author of Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign (2016) and Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate (2009). She is also coauthor of Sizing Up The Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (1999) and a textbook, Congress and Its Members (Sage / CQ Press). Her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and other outlets.
Frances E. Lee is jointly appointed in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs where she is Professor of Politics and Public Affairs. Lee has broad interests in American politics, with a special focus on congressional politics, national policymaking, party politics, and representation. She is author of Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign (2016) and Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate (2009). She is also coauthor of Sizing Up The Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (1999) and a textbook, Congress and Its Members (Sage / CQ Press). Her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and other outlets.
As the head of the Government Affairs team, Kristine Simmons leads the Partnership for Public Service’s education and advocacy work on Capitol Hill, oversees the Center for Presidential Transition and serves as a member of the Partnership’s senior leadership team. Her responsibilities include developing and executing strategies to improve presidential transitions, informing congressional oversight, and reforming government management and the civil service system. Prior to joining the Partnership, Kristine served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush on the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also spent 11 years on Capitol Hill working in a senior capacity for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Kristine has worked with fantastic leaders in both the executive branch and Congress, and believes that people of integrity working across the aisle and across the branches can do great things for the American people.
As the head of the Government Affairs team, Kristine Simmons leads the Partnership for Public Service’s education and advocacy work on Capitol Hill, oversees the Center for Presidential Transition and serves as a member of the Partnership’s senior leadership team. Her responsibilities include developing and executing strategies to improve presidential transitions, informing congressional oversight, and reforming government management and the civil service system. Prior to joining the Partnership, Kristine served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush on the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also spent 11 years on Capitol Hill working in a senior capacity for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Kristine has worked with fantastic leaders in both the executive branch and Congress, and believes that people of integrity working across the aisle and across the branches can do great things for the American people.
In the second half of this week’s episode, Cys and Chervenak discuss the polarization in Congress, what aspects of Congress work and what doesn’t, and recommendations for how problems could be fixed.
In this week’s episode, Mike Cys joins Matthew Chervenak to discuss the difference between state and national politics, the transition of national politics to a nonprofits, and the interaction of members of Congress and committee members.
Matt Glassman, Ph.D., joined the Government Affairs Institute as a Senior Fellow in 2017. He has taught courses on and off the Hill on American government, congressional process, congressional-presidential relations, and congressional leadership. Prior to joining GAI, Matt worked on the Hill at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for ten years. His portfolio included congressional operations, separation of powers, appropriations, judicial administration, agency design, and congressional history. He was detailed to the House Committee on Appropriations as professional staff for the Legislative Branch Subcommittee in FY2010 and FY2011.
Matt Glassman, Ph.D., joined the Government Affairs Institute as a Senior Fellow in 2017. He has taught courses on and off the Hill on American government, congressional process, congressional-presidential relations, and congressional leadership. Prior to joining GAI, Matt worked on the Hill at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for ten years. His portfolio included congressional operations, separation of powers, appropriations, judicial administration, agency design, and congressional history. He was detailed to the House Committee on Appropriations as professional staff for the Legislative Branch Subcommittee in FY2010 and FY2011.
About Craig Volden: Craig Volden is a Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. He is a Professor of Public Policy and Politics, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics. He studies legislative politics and the interaction among political institutions, with a focus on what policy choices arise from legislative-executive relations and from American federalism.
About Alan Wiseman: Alan Wiseman is a Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. He is the Chair of the Political Science Department at Vanderbilt University, where he is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Economy and a Professor of Political Science and Law (by courtesy). He has research and teaching interests in American political institutions and positive political economy, focusing on legislative politics, regulation and bureaucratic policy making, and business-government relations.
Jonathan Bydlak is interim director of the Governance Program at the R Street Institute (https://rstreet.org), director of the Fiscal and Budget Policy Project, and a member of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group.
Previously, Jonathan was the founder and president of the Institute for Spending Reform and the Coalition to Reduce Spending, which advocated for spending and budget reform. He is the creator of https://SpendingTracker.org, the first ever real-time spending site that tracks the fiscal records of Members of Congress.
A member of the William & Mary faculty since 1987, Larry Evans is a specialist in American national politics. In addition to three dozen journal articles and chapters in edited volumes, he is the author of three books: The Whips: Building Party Coalitions in Congress (University of Michigan Press, 2018), Congress Under Fire: Reform Politics and the Republican Majority (with Walter Oleszek, Houghton Mifflin,1997), and Leadership in Committee: A Comparative Analysis of Leadership Behavior in the U.S. Senate (University of Michigan Press, 1991, 2001). Over the years, he has received several national awards for his research, as well as the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching from W&M.
During 1991-93, Professor Evans served as the staff associate for Chairman Lee H. Hamilton on the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. In 2003-07, he was co-editor of the Legislative Studies Quarterly, the premier scholarly journal focusing on legislatures. And in 2011-13, he chaired the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association. He earned a B.A. in economics from Kenyon College, an M.A. in economics from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester. Currently, his teaching focuses on the Congress, the presidency, and legislative-executive relations.
About the Levin Center:
The Levin Center at Wayne Law was established to carry on the legislative oversight legacy and vision of U.S. Senator Carl Levin, who represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, longer than any other Michigan senator. A lifelong Detroiter and former President of the Detroit City Council, Carl Levin went to Washington to ensure a compassionate and effective federal government. After witnessing mismanagement and its detrimental effects on Detroit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1970's, Levin developed a keen interest in making government accountable and responsible to its people through in-depth, fact-based, bipartisan legislative oversight and strong ethics laws. For More Information, visit https://law.wayne.edu/levin-center/about.
Today's Guests:
Jim Townsend, a former member of the Michigan legislature, was named director of the Levin Center at Wayne Law in November 2019. Previously, Townsend practiced law in the Detroit office of Butzel Long as a member of its Corporate and Real Estate Practice Group. Prior to joining the firm, he represented the 26th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. He serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's advisory council of the Redevelopment Ready Communities® program.
Elise Bean worked as an investigator for Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), including 15 years at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), known for its bipartisan, fact-based investigations into complex issues. Appointed his PSI staff director and chief counsel in 2003, Bean handled investigations, hearings and legislation on matters involving money laundering, offshore tax abuse, corruption, shell companies and corporate misconduct.
Kosar is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies the US Congress, congressional oversight, the administrative state, American politics, and the US Postal Service.
Before joining AEI, Dr. Kosar was at the R Street Institute, where he served as vice president of policy, vice president of research partnerships, and senior fellow and director of the Governance Project. He also cofounded and still codirects the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group (https://www.LegBranch.org). The project is dedicated to assessing Congress’ capacity to perform its constitutional duties and collaborating on ideas to strengthen the legislative branch.
Earlier, Dr. Kosar spent more than a decade working for the Congressional Research Service, where he focused on a wide range of public administration issues. He has taught public policy at New York University and lectured on public administration at Metropolitan College of New York.