Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

At Least One Bipartisan Vote: House Needs Modernizing

While the partisan standoff that's pushed the government shutdown into a third week is getting the bulk of the media's attention, an unusual glimmer of bipartisanship marked the start of the new Congress.

Setting the rules for operating the House of Representatives is traditionally an entirely party-line affair, with the majority party unified in dictating the terms and the minority party just as unified in resisting. But not this year.


In what appears to be a first in modern times, part of the new rules package was overwhelmingly approved Friday, 418-12, the only "no" votes coming from a clutch of the most combative Republican conservatives. The provision, which creates a Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, was welcomed by lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum who view the House's internal procedures, technologies and work culture as contributing to the Capitol's dysfunction.

And on Thursday, when the bulk of the new House rules were approved, 234-197, the package won the support of three centrist Republicans who had pressed for several of the provisions in the hope of improving transparency and promoting consensus-building in the legislative process: Tom Reed and John Katko of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

At the same time, three progressive Democrats opposed the entire package because of its pay-as-you-go language requiring tax increases or offsetting spending cuts in House legislation expanding social safety net programs: Ro Khanna of California, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The special panel's jurisdiction, the new rules say, is "policies to develop the next generation of leaders; staff recruitment, diversity, retention, and compensation and benefits; administrative efficiencies, including purchasing, travel, outside services, and shared administrative staff; technology and innovation; and the work of the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards," the organization that monitors lawmakers' official communications with their constituents to assure they do not become de facto campaign propaganda.

"Many will decry the select committee as a half measure unlikely to produce real results, but its establishment is a signal from leadership that the congressional reform movement has gained enough traction to warrant internal study," said Casey Burgat of the R Street Institute, a generally conservative think tank that studies ways to make Congress work better.

A 2017 survey of senior Capitol Hill staffers by the independent Congressional Management Foundation found only 6 percent were very satisfied with the Hill's technical infrastructure, for example, and only 15 percent very content that the congressional workforce had the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to support the membership.

The committee will have six members from each party and its recommendations, which are due by the end of the year, will need the support of eight lawmakers in order to advance to the full House. The chairman will be Derek Killmer, who is beginning his fourth term representing Washington's Olympic Peninsula and is also the incoming chairman of the centrist New Democrat Coalition.

The rare burst of bipartisanship in setting the House rules is almost certain to disappear when lawmakers vote next week on a final provision, which would authorize the House's lawyers to get involved in the appeal of a federal judge's ruling in Texas last month declaring the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. As has distinguished nearly a full decade of debate since the first Obamacare bill moved through the House, not a single GOP lawmaker is inclined to vote to stick up for the law.

Read More

Defining the Democracy Movement: Karissa Raskin
- YouTube

Defining the Democracy Movement: Karissa Raskin

The Fulcrum presents The Path Forward: Defining the Democracy Reform Movement. Scott Warren's interview series engages diverse thought leaders to elevate the conversation about building a thriving and healthy democratic republic that fulfills its potential as a national social and political game-changer. This initiative is the start of focused collaborations and dialogue led by The Bridge Alliance and The Fulcrum teams to help the movement find a path forward.

Karissa Raskin is the new CEO of the Listen First Project, a coalition of over 500 nationwide organizations dedicated to bridging differences. The coalition aims to increase social cohesion across American society and serves as a way for bridging organizations to compare notes, share resources, and collaborate broadly. Karissa, who is based in Jacksonville, served as the Director of Coalition Engagement for a number of years before assuming the CEO role this February.

Keep ReadingShow less
Business professional watching stocks go down.
Getty Images, Bartolome Ozonas

The White House Is Booming, the Boardroom Is Panicking

The Confidence Collapse

Consumer confidence is plummeting—and that was before the latest Wall Street selloffs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship
Getty Images, Mykyta Ivanov

Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship

The current approaches to proactively counteracting authoritarianism and censorship fall into two main categories, which we call “fighting” and “Constitution-defending.” While Constitution-defending in particular has some value, this article advocates for a third major method: draining interest in authoritarianism and censorship.

“Draining” refers to sapping interest in these extreme possibilities of authoritarianism and censorship. In practical terms, it comes from reducing an overblown sense of threat of fellow Americans across the political spectrum. When there is less to fear about each other, there is less desire for authoritarianism or censorship.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less