Ezra Klein Archive: Congress

Four ways to end the filibuster

Steve Pearlstein wants to bring the filibuster back to its first principles: Ensuring unlimited debate. His suggestion is to kill the filibuster but promise the minority that debate can continue until "a bill is passed or defeated or Senators...

By Ezra Klein  |  November 11, 2009; 3:43 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (33)
Categories:  Congress , Senate Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

Can Congress control costs?

One of the more sophisticated arguments against health-care reform is that for all the sharp policies and elegant initiatives contained in the bill, none of it will work because Congress will vote to roll back the cost savings. The...

By Ezra Klein  |  November 6, 2009; 5:17 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (10)
Categories:  Congress , Health Economics , Health Reform Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

America's unusually democratic democracy

Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein has a good follow-up post to my comments on the unexpectedly decisive roles individual legislators play in the policy process. This, he says, is part of what makes America great. Our legislature (both Houses!) is...

By Ezra Klein  |  October 22, 2009; 5:30 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (7)
Categories:  Congress Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

Don't Read The Bill!

The first amendment considered in the Senate Finance Committee's mark-up was Sen. Jim Bunning’s demand that the bill be converted into legislative language and the CBO take two to three weeks to render a full score before there's a...

By Ezra Klein  |  September 25, 2009; 6:00 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)
Categories:  Congress , Senate Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

The Primacy of Congress

The problem with David Brooks's column today isn't that it's wrong on the specifics. It's not, really. It would be good if the health-care proposals on the table accorded more closely with the views of the most ambitious experts....

By Ezra Klein  |  September 4, 2009; 4:37 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (19)
Categories:  Congress , Health Reform Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

Do Populous States Have Liberal Senators?

Earlier today, I posted a graph showing the ideology of a senator (ranked from 1-100, where "1" was the most conservative senator in the Senate) against the size of their state (ranked from 1 to 50, where "1" was the...

By Ezra Klein  |  August 10, 2009; 3:01 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (8)
Categories:  Charts and Graphs , Congress Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

Older Entries in This Category »

How Do You Kill the Filibuster?, Ezra Klein , August 6, 2009
Filibuster Nation, Ezra Klein , August 5, 2009
Can Democrats Have a 50-Vote Senate?, Ezra Klein , August 3, 2009
Am I a Radical?, Ezra Klein , July 31, 2009
Misremembering the Filibuster, Ezra Klein , July 31, 2009
Why Republicans Fear Henry Waxman, Ezra Klein , May 22, 2009
 
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