Understanding Congress

Feb 03 2025 55 ep. 24 mins 85
Understanding Congress Podcast artwork

Congress is the least liked and perhaps least understood part of government. But it’s vital to our constitutional government. Congress is the only branch equipped to work through our diverse nation’s disagreements and decide on the law. To better understand the First Branch, join host Kevin Kosar and guests as they explain its infrastructure, culture, procedures, history, and more.

  Government  History  News
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What Is the Lost History of Congress’s Offices of Legislative Counsel? (with Beau Baumann)

Feb 03 2025 28 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “What is the lost history of Congress’s Offices of Legislative Counsel?”My guest is Beau Baumann, a doctoral candidate in law at Yale University. He studies the intersection of administrative law and legislation. He has published articles in a number of law journals and previously worked as an attorney for the US Department of Justice and clerked

What Has Become of the United States Senate and Can It Be Revived? (with Anthony Madonna)

Jan 06 2025 26 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “What has become of the United States Senate and can it be revived?”The Senate did not have a good year in 2024. The chamber did not pass a budget resolution, nor did the Senate enact any of the dozen annual spending bills. Its year-end calendar of business listed dozens of pages of bills on matters large and small awaiting votes. Lots of floor tim

Special Book Edition: The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party (with Kevin R. Kosar)

Dec 02 2024 14 mins  
The topic of this episode is a new book on Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican who served as his party’s chamber leader for the better part of two decades.The book was written by Associated Press reporter Michael Tackett, and its title is The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party. It was published by Simon & Schuster in

Should the House of Representatives Change Its Rules?” (with Philip Wallach)

Nov 04 2024 25 mins  
As listeners know, every two years the House of Representatives is reborn. After the November election each party convenes in Washington, DC. They discuss and debate how they will run their parties, and what their legislative priorities will be. And if they are members of the majority party, they will discuss and decide what the rules of the House should be. Then when they open the

What Does the House Ways and Means Committee Do? (with Fmr. Rep. Tom Reed)

Oct 07 2024 26 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “What does the House Ways and Means Committee do? And how does it do it?”The House Ways and Means Committee is the oldest committee of the United States Congress, first established in 1789 and became a standing committee in 1805. It has jurisdiction over raising revenue for the government to spend---taxes, tariffs, and the like. The term “Ways an

How Can the House of Representatives Better Prepare New Members? (with Rep. Stephanie Bice)

Sep 03 2024 22 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “How can the House of Representatives better prepare new members?”My guest is Rep. Stephanie Bice, a Republican who has represented Oklahoma’s fifth congressional district for the past four years. She previously served in the Oklahoma state legislature from from 2014 to 2020. Prior to that, she worked in business for her family’s technology com

How Does Media Affect Our Perceptions of Congress? (with Rob Oldham)

Aug 05 2024 27 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “How does media affect our perceptions of Congress?’As listeners no doubt know, Americans are down on Congress. Public approval of Congress has averaged about 20 percent over the past 20 years, according to Gallup. Certainly, the people on Capitol Hill are partly to blame. We have legislators who behave as if they are on a reality television show a

Special Books Edition: An Interview with Michael Johnson, Author of Fixing Congress: Restoring Power to the People

Jul 01 2024 25 mins  
The topic of this special episode of the Understanding Congress podcast is a recent book by Michael Johnson and Jerome Climer. The book is titled, Fixing Congress: Restoring Power to the People (Morgan James Publishing, 2024). Mr. Johnson and Mr. Climer each have spent more than four decades in Washington, DC and have had stints working inside Congress.Today, I have with me one of

Does Congress Still Suffer from Demosclerosis? (with Jonathan Rauch)

Jun 03 2024 30 mins  
The topic of this episode is, “Does Congress still suffer from Demosclerosis?"My guest is Jonathan Rauch, the author of the classic book, Demosclerosis: The Silent Killer of American Government (Times Books, 1994). Jonathan is a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author of numerous books, including The Constitution of Knowledge (Brookings Institution Press, 2021), and K

What Is Congress’ Role in a Contingent Presidential Election? (with John Fortier)

May 06 2024 24 mins  
The topic of this episode is, "what is Congress' role in a contingent presidential election?"Two centuries ago, America had a contingent presidential election. No candidate got a majority of votes, and thus it fell to Congress to decide who got to be president. Might the United States have another contingent election? Certainly it is possible. Four of the past six presidential elec