BCRA unlikely to survive the Parliamentarian? Hold your horses.

The Senate is in town for its first full work-week in August to address spending bills for Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD), the two largest executive agencies. Appropriations bills usually provide a forum for an open amendment process, where members have many opportunities to offer their ideas and have […]

President Trump’s selection of his second Supreme Court appointment, the Hon. Brett Kavanaugh, is heralded as a Republican victory. The media and both parties are singularly focused on the confirmation of Kavanaugh’s appointment. But with all the focus on this nomination, the Senate itself is ignoring equally important nominations: judges for the lower courts. The […]

The Senate is taking up the Farm Bill this week, which provides conservatives numerous opportunities for amendments. Here are eight ideas for reform. Reduce subsidies by 15 percent the federal crop insurance subsidy for farmers with an adjusted gross income of $700,000. This amendment was offered by Sens. Coburn (R-OK) and Durbin (D-Ill.) in 2013, […]

Arcane procedural maneuvers are usually reserved for the Senate. But this week in the House, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) resurrected a House rule from 1876 in a bid to take down a bureaucrat. On Thursday, the House considered Gosar’s amendment to reduce the salary of Mark Gabriel, the Administrator of the Western Power Administration, to […]

Every year, groups within the conservative movement hold important conferences that help shape the debates, policies and messaging of freedom fighters on the right. Below are some important conservative events held around the country. If you have tips on events that should be listed, please email us at [email protected]. 2018 May 16-18: GOPAC Spring Leadership […]

This week in the “Lazy Senate,” the spotlight is on the Senate’s pesky 30-hour rule — the one that Republicans constantly blame for the Senate’s slow pace of confirmations. But is it? The short answer is, no. It’s just another excuse by Republican leadership to be, you guessed it, lazy. Here’s why. In 2013 and […]

The Senate’s arcane rules have never been more popular. The Senate’s 44 standing rules, usually  obscured by their more popular precedents or made irrelevant by routine waivers, are suddenly getting some love. The rules haven’t changed or made a sudden showy reappearance on C-SPAN. In fact, it’s the opposite. Conservatives are getting irritated with the Senate Republicans refusal to use […]

After expressing unhappiness with the size of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill he signed last month, reports indicate that President Trump is working on a package of rescissions to cut some of the spending. What is a rescission? A “rescission” is the cancellation or reduction of budget authority (the ability of an agency to […]

Congress loves to pretend to be working while not actually doing much of anything. It’s a Swamp specialty. This is particularly true in theUnited States Senate, where Republican leaders blame Democrat obstruction and obscure rules for their inability to get things done. CPI’s Policy Director, Rachel Bovard, has written extensively about how, in failing to do […]

NumbersUSA has put together a comparison of the amnesty give-aways and other policies contained in the President’s proposal, and various other proposals that are making their way through Congress. Take a look.

After Democrats shutdown the government over demands for amnesty for 800,000 young illegal immigrants who took part in former President Obama’s unconstitutional DACA program, the Trump White House recently proposed a compromise. The newly unveiled plan includes: Immediate amnesty for 1.8 million illegal immigrants, including path to citizenship after 10-12 years – 800,000 young illegals who […]

A new poll of more than 2500 American adults conducted in the last few weeks found that 76% of Americans favor significant abortion restrictions and most find abortion morally objectionable. More from the press release: More than three quarters of Americans would limit abortion to — at most — the first three months of pregnancy, according […]

In the midst of all the hysteria over a potential government shutdown, one particular question keeps popping up: why can’t the Republicans keep the government open if they have majorities in both chambers of Congress, and the White House? The answer has to do with the nature of minority rights in the Senate. But more […]

After excoriating Republicans for shutting down the government in 2013, leading Democrats now appear willing to do the exact same thing unless they get amnesty for 800,000 DACA recipients. Republicans have offered to make a deal. Their terms were once supported by Democrats, CPI’s Rachel Bovard writes in The Hill. Read the full op-ed here. Ironically, […]

In an extraordinary move last week, President Trump brought congressional leaders to the White House for a vigorous discussion of immigration policy. What made the moment so remarkable is that the meeting—in a departure from the usual swampy Washington gesture reserved for scripted talking points and meaningless photo opportunities—was substantial and it was televised. For […]

Other than the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, in 2017 the Trump nominee that made the most headlines was one attacked by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over his Christian faith. And still in 2018, this nominee still hasn’t been confirmed. Not because of Democrats, but because a member of Senate GOP leadership is holding him over funding […]

Before leaving for Christmas break, the Senate blocked the nomination of Scott Garrett, President Trump’s choice to lead the Export Import Bank, which has long been opposed by conservatives as corporate welfare. Why did this happen? Mercatus’ Veronique De Rugy explains: The Senate Banking Committee rejected President Trump’s nominee to head the Export-Import Bank, former […]

Both the House and Senate have passed their respective tax reform bills, but keep the cork in the champagne. The process has to overcome one more hurdle before it hits the president’s desk: The conference committee — the ad hoc, temporary panel created to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills. If you haven’t […]

Press reports suggest that Congress is considering a legislative fix to DACA in its year end spending bill. Conservatives have long stood for an immigration system that applies the rule of law equally to both citizens and immigrants, and thus stand opposed to any action by Congress which would provide amnesty to those here illegally. […]