Outside the Beltway

And linkages to broader US politics.

The law and justice are frequently not the same thing.

Or, at least, he’s willing to kill democracy in order to save it.

Millions have health insurance who otherwise wouldn’t.

The post really isn’t about Sinema as much as it about a theory of poltiics.

A special session looms. (And how this is not like the filibuster in the US Senate).

We need what we aren’t going to get.

The country is in peril.

A bipartisan compromise appears unlikely.

Looking to Federalist 22.

I think this underscores the problem with the 60-vote requirement.

Could this be the straw that broke the camel’s back?

A third of the party’s Members of Congress voted against a popular bill.

Assessing Republican strategic positioning (and the incentives in our system).

On fiscal policy and historical comparisons.

Let’s call it what it is.

More voice, more votes, more representation.

It’s undemocratic and we should get rid of it. But doing so isn’t a panacea.

With an appearance by Caitlyn Jenner’s choice of party.

Look at who’s lined up against H.R. 1.

It’s not just Red states that put up too many barriers.

The Free State may have gotten just a little freer.

Stoking a bizarre fantasy that will not die.

My home state has become the first in the South to join the trend.

It doesn’t work like the movies, Senator.

Another entry in the “stunning, but not surprising” category of political observations.

And, really, all of this current wave of election legislation.

The GA GOP is butting heads with corporations over HB202

A Trump-era policy designed to screw over blue states may actually be a good one.

We can all agree that it’s important but not what it is.

How well do single-seat districts lead to representation? (And of what?)

A little-known rule might allow a majority to pass one more bill.

It makes voting harder.

Here we go again.

An interesting proposal to improve tax collection.

The case of Katie Porter’s committee assignments.

Defense of the filibuster tend to be a combo of mistakes and mythology.

A way-too-early assessment of how it’s going.

Reacting to the asymmetrical polarization of the electorate.

The fixes worsen the stated problem (more on Iowa and other states’ attempts to restrict voting).

Making it harder to vote in Iowa.

HR1 is a national approach to expanding voter access. State legislatures are trying to both expand and restrict the vote as well.

A story that is both unserious and yet emblematic of our age in a serious way.

Yet another reminder about pathologies of US democracy.

The Senate parliamentarian has ruled against ramming it through in the COVID relief bill.

What was mere signaling under a Republican Senate and President could now become law.

What’s taking him so long?

Nevada is mounting a challenge to the rural, lily-white states that always go first in the presidential primary gauntlet.