TMC Topic Guide

Congress

Created: February 2021

Last Updated: June 25, 2023

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Table of contents

Congressional behavior

Representation in Congress

Separation of powers

Congress and war powers

Congressional oversight

Polarization and partisanship

Electoral politics

Election forecasting

Electoral dynamics

Congressional institutions

Advise and consent

Congressional leadership

Congress and monetary policy

Congress and policy

Employment discrimination

Congress and the District of Columbia

Campaign finance and lobbying

Congressional behavior

Dina Smeltz and Emily Sullivan, “Liberal Democrats are more hawkish than you might think,” November 18, 2022
Alexandra Filindra, “Local officials face four kinds of threats. And they’re escalating,” November 8, 2022.
Marion Campisi, Tommy Ratliff, Stephanie Somersille and Ellen Veomett, “Newly gerrymandered districts might hurt Democrats less than you think,” September 22, 2022.
Joshua McCabe, “Why people are fighting over Social Security numbers,” July 20, 2022.
David Brady and Bruce Cain, “If Democrats listen to AOC, they’re going to lose seats,” July 13, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “How did a bipartisan group of senators agree on new gun measures?” June 13, 2022.
Abigail Vegter and Alexandra Middlewood, “The ‘massacre generation’ believes government can prevent mass shootings,” June 8, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons Congress is still unlikely to pass new gun laws,” May 26, 2022.
Katherine Tate, “The House might pass a long-ignored bill to study reparations for slavery. Why now?” March 23, 2022.
Jordan Tama, “Congressional Democrats and Republicans are united in confronting Russia. That unity won’t last,” March 4, 2022.
John D. Rackey, Lauren C. Bell, and Kevin R. Kosar, “House committees are hearing from fewer witnesses. That hurts public policy,” January 28, 2022.
Neilan S. Chaturvedi, “What do Manchin and Sinema want?” January 26, 2022.
Adam Hilton,“Despite Manchin and Sinema, Democrats are more united than they’ve been for decades,” January 25, 2022.
Sara Sadhwani, Pamela Lopez, Christian Grose, and Antoine Yoshinaka, “When lobbyists and legislators socialize, lobbyists are more likely to get what they want,” January 12, 2022.
Alexandra Stark, “Congress failed to block the sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia. Why?” December 23, 2021.
Jen Spindel and Robert Ralston, “Congress might require women to register for the draft. Where do Republicans and Democrats stand?” November 15, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons Congress finally passed an infrastructure bill,” November 8, 2021.
Adam Hilton and Amelia Malpas, “Biden’s Democrats want to roll back the Reagan era. Are the party and the country ready?” March 19, 2021.
Pippa Norris, “Why Republicans haven’t abandoned Trumpism,” February 8, 2021.
Michael Tesler, “These 3 graphs explain why more House Republicans did not support impeachment,” January 14, 2021.
Lee Drutman, “There’s a reason why Lisa Murkowski can threaten to leave the Republicans,” January 9, 2021.
Sarah E. Anderson, Daniel Butler, and Laurel Harbridge-Yong, “Why the new Congress will be just as unlikely to compromise as the old one,” December 21, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Why so many House Republicans co-signed Texas’s lawsuit to overturn the election,” December 15, 2020.
Beth Reingold, Kerry Haynie, and Kirsten Widner, “Women of color won congressional seats in record numbers. How will they legislate?” November 24, 2020.
Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman, “Members of Congress are specializing less often. That makes them less effective,” September 17, 2020.
Jeremy Gelman, “House Democrats are sending dead-on-arrival bills to the Senate. There’s a good reason,” July 3, 2020.
Caleb Ziolkowski, “Senators dumped stocks amid the coronavirus crisis. Here’s what we know about Congress and financial self-interest,” March 25, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Congress’s 2019 looks startling in the rear-view mirror. Here are 4 key takeaways,” December 30, 2019.
Michael Tesler, “Why are Republicans silent about the Ukraine whistleblower scandal? This one chart explains,” September 24, 2019.
Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman, “Congress is back in town — and here’s why it won't accomplish much,” September 12, 2019.
Ju Yeon Park, “During Mueller’s testimony, some members of Congress will grandstand. Here’s the logic behind which ones will,” July 24, 2019.
Jan Zilinsky, “Why didn’t more congressional Republicans condemn Trump’s racist tweets about the ‘Squad’? This graph explains,” July 20, 2019.
Joshua Huder, “Democrats want to modernize the House. Good luck with that,” January 18, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “The shutdown is just the finale. Here are five takeaways from the Republican Congress’s chaotic 2018,” December 27, 2018.
David A. Bateman, Ira Katznelson, and John S. Lapinski, “How Southern politicians defended white supremacy — and made the South poorer,” November 26, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “Here are 4 things to expect from a new, Trumpier, more polarized Congress,” November 7, 2018.
Gregory Eady, Jan Zilinsky, Jonathan Nagler, and Joshua Tucker, “Trying to understand how Jeff Flake is leaning? We analyzed his Twitter feed — and were surprised,” October 5, 2018.
Casey Burgat and Charles Hunt, “Why was the Peter Strzok hearing such a circus? Because Congress wanted it that way,” July 17, 2018.
Danny Hayes, “Do women in Congress work harder than their male colleagues?” March 8, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons you should expect congressional gridlock on gun control,” February 27, 2018.
Lior Sheffer and Peter John Loewen, “This fallacy helps explain why Republicans have pursued such unpopular policies,” January 11, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “This is what Orrin G. Hatch’s retirement means for the Senate,” January 3, 2018.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “5 lessons from a Republican year of governing dangerously,” December 28, 2017.
Kathy Goldschmidt and Lorelei Kelly, “Congress just doesn't know enough to do its job well. Here’s why,” November 14, 2017.
Michael K. Romano, “When members of Congress announce their retirement, this is how they change,” November 3, 2017.
Alexandra Filindra and Laurel Harbridge-Yong, “This is why more Republicans in Congress haven’t criticized Trump,” August 2, 2017.
Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, “Senators used to excel at lawmaking. Now, not so much. Here’s what needs to change,” June 29, 2017.
David C. Barker and Christopher Jan Carman, “This is why so many Republicans are ready to ignore public opinion on health care,” June 27, 2017.
Jeffrey Lazarus, “These 2 charts show why more Republicans don’t object to how Trump fired Comey,” May 16, 2017.
Eric Patashnik, “People love to hate Congress. This new book reminds us why we should treasure it,” April 29, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “3 lessons from Republicans’ attempt to silence Elizabeth Warren,” February 8, 2017.
Jonathan Lewallen, “Republican leaders in Congress want to move fast. That’s risky,” January 24, 2017.
Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, “How term limits for committee chairs make Congress less effective,” January 4, 2017.
Thad Kousser, “If you want a more powerful President Trump, impose term limits on Congress,” October 19, 2016.
Michael Crespin and Nathan Gerth, “It’s not just Hillary Clinton. Members of Congress are careless with classified material too,” July 21, 2016.
Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, “These are the 10 most effective lawmakers in the U.S. Congress,” December 28, 2015.
Annelise Russell, “This is how candidates are trying to tell you what they really think. (Hint: it’s not through the news media),” September 17, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “This is why some Republicans keep threatening to take the government hostage,” September 16, 2015.
Michael Neblo, “Politicians and citizens talking without shouting? It can happen.,” March 16, 2015.
Patrick Hickey, “The Senate failed to override Obama’s veto of the Keystone Pipeline. Here’s why,” March 5, 2015.
David Karol, “How campaign finance law makes senators early lame ducks,” March 2, 2015.
Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, “The 5 habits of highly effective legislators,” January 6, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Would a GOP Senate make a difference?” November 4, 2014.
David R. Mayhew and Matthew I. Bettinger, “What can Obama expect from his last Congress?” July 9, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “Geithner’s unicorn: Could Congress have done more to relieve the mortgage crisis?” May 19, 2014.
Adam Ramey, “How personality explains behavior in Congress,” April 15, 2014.
John Wilkerson, Nick Stramp, and David Smith, “Why bill success is a lousy way to keep score in Congress,” February 6, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “Congress in the rearview mirror,” December 31, 2013.

Representation in Congress

Eric McGhee, Christopher Warshaw, and Michal Migurski, “How Black and Latino people did in this last round of redistricting,” October 7, 2022.
Elliot Mamet, “If seated, a Cherokee delegate could make a big difference in Congress,” October 5, 2022.
Elise Blasingame, “What Mary Peltola’s win in Alaska may mean for Indian country,” September 13, 2022.
Seth Masket, “A third party could be successful. But probably not this one,” August 3, 2022.
David Brady and Bruce Cain, “If Democrats listen to AOC, they’re going to lose seats,” July 13, 2022.
Catherine Wineinger, “Republican women are becoming key party messengers. Here’s how it happened,” February 15, 2021.
Bailey K. Sanders and Danielle M. Thomsen, “A record number of women are serving in Congress. That’s good news for constituents,” January 26, 2021.
Stephen Nuño-Perez, “How incoming Sen. Alex Padilla could help Democrats among Latino voters,” January 20, 2021.
Michele L. Swers, “More Republican women than before will serve in this Congress. Here’s why,” January 5, 2021.
Andrew Flores, Charles Gossett, Gabriele Magni, and Andrew Reynolds, “11 openly LGBTQ lawmakers will take their seats in the next Congress. That’s a record in both numbers and diversity,” November 30, 2020.
Beth Reingold, Kerry Haynie, and Kirsten Widner, “Women of color won congressional seats in record numbers. How will they legislate?” November 24, 2020.
Bernard L. Fraga, “The next Congress will probably be the most diverse ever,” June 22, 2020.
Michael Tesler, “Was Rep. Katie Hill held to a higher standard than men in Congress? This research suggests she was,” November 4, 2019.
Meredith Conroy and Lilly J. Goren, “In 2020, could two female pig farmers run against each other for Iowa’s Senate seat?” June 14, 2019.
Julia Marin Hellwege and Lisa A. Bryant, “Congress has a record number of mothers with children at home. This is why it matters,” February 15, 2019.
Craig Volden, Alan Wiseman, and Dana Wittmer Wolfe, “How the record number of female lawmakers will — and won’t — change Congress,” January 23, 2019.
Kenneth Lowande, Melinda Ritchie and Erinn Lauterbach, “Having the most diverse Congress ever will affect more than just legislation,” January 9, 2019.
Christopher T. Stout and Jennifer R. Garcia, “Mia Love is right. The loss of black Republicans in Congress really could hurt the party with black voters,” December 12, 2018.
David Lublin, “Eight white-majority districts elected black members of Congress this year. That’s a breakthrough,” November 19, 2018.
Rebecca Best and Jeremy M. Teigen, “An unprecedented number of female military veterans ran as Democrats this year. Here’s why they were unusually successful,” November 14, 2018.
Amanda Clayton and Pär Zetterberg, “Will 2018’s ‘pink wave’ of female candidates make it in Congress? Almost certainly. Here’s how,” May 30, 2018.
Matthew Green, “Is Nancy Pelosi unpopular because she’s a woman — or because she was speaker of the House?” March 20, 2018.
Danny Hayes, “Do women in Congress work harder than their male colleagues?” March 8, 2018.
Danny Hayes, “A year after the Women’s March, a record number of women are running for office. Will they win?” January 19, 2018.
Danielle Lupton, “Having fewer veterans in Congress makes it less likely to restrain the president’s use of force,” November 10, 2017.
Michele L. Swers and Danielle M. Thomsen, “This explains why there are so few Republican women in Congress,” June 20, 2017.
Eric McGhee, “The Democrats are likely to win a majority of House votes, but not a majority of House seats. Again,” October 21, 2016.
Mary Nugent and Catherine Wineinger, “Yesterday’s Congressional women’s softball game was bipartisan. But are women actually more bipartisan in practice?” June 16, 2016.
John Sides, “What would change if there were more women in Congress? More than you think,” March 7, 2015.
Patrick J. Egan, “Welcome to the most unrepresentative Senate election since World War II,” November 3, 2014.
John Sides, “Moderates are scared to run for Congress,” July 7, 2014.
Ben Highton, “How the Senate is biased toward Republicans,” January 31, 2014.
Michele Swers, “Electing more women to Congress isn’t a solution for polarization,” January 13, 2014.
Nicholas Carnes, “Congress doesn’t have to be a Millionaires’ Club,” January 8, 2014.
Erik Voeten, “Does it matter that so few congressmen are veterans?” November 11, 2013.

Separation of powers

William Howell and Terry Moe, “Big government vastly expanded presidential power. Republicans use it to sabotage the administration,” November 1, 2021.
Saikrishna Prakash, “Only Congress has the authority to declare war. Can it take that power back from the presidency?” October 2, 2020.
Elizabeth Goitein, “How Congress is pushing back against Trump’s unprecedented use of emergency powers,” September 25, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “The House rebuked Trump over the post office. Here are 3 takeaways,” August 24, 2020.
Mort Halperin and Soren Dayton, “Can Congress reclaim authority it has handed over to the president? It’s trying,” August 20, 2020.
Rebecca A. Reid and Todd A. Curry, “Native Americans won an unusual legal victory at the Supreme Court. Congress could undo it,” July 29, 2020.
Patrick Schmidt and Margaret Moran, “The Supreme Court just took aim at Congress’s ability to protect federal agencies from partisan politics,” July 2, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “The Republican Senate just rebuked Trump using the War Powers Act — for the third time. That’s remarkable,” February 14, 2020.
Douglas L. Kriner, “Don’t expect Congress to rein in Trump’s use of military force in the Middle East,” January 7, 2020.
David E. Lewis, “Here’s why Trump is threatening federal layoffs if Congress won’t shut this agency down,” June 24, 2019.
Jennifer Spindel, “Yes, Trump can override Congress and sell weapons to Saudi Arabia — even over Republican objections,” May 30, 2019.
Jordan Tama, Joshua Busby, Craig Kafura, Joshua D. Kertzer, and Jonathan Monten, “Congress has NATO’s back, despite Trump’s unilateralism,” April 3, 2019.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Why Congress’s rebuke of Trump’s emergency declaration matters — despite the president’s veto,” March 15, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “The Senate voted to block Trump’s national emergency declaration. Now what?” March 15, 2019.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Will the president’s emergency declaration stand? Here are three (and a half) reasons it may not,” February 18, 2019.
Sarah Binder, James Goldgeier, and Elizabeth N. Saunders, “The Senate and intelligence community rebuked Trump on national security this week. Here’s why that matters — a lot,” February 2, 2019.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Does Trump really have ‘absolute power’ to declare a national emergency? Let’s examine the statute,” January 10, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons you should be startled by how the Senate rebuked Trump,” December 14, 2018.
Jordan Tama, “Why is the Senate challenging Trump on Yemen? Here’s what you need to know,” November 30, 2018.
Jordan Tama, “What is the Global Magnitsky Act, and why are U.S. senators invoking this on Saudi Arabia?” October 12, 2018.
John Seungmin Kuk, Deborah Seligsohn, and Jiakun Jack Zhang, “Why Republicans don’t push back on Trump’s China tariffs — in one map,” August 7, 2018.
Douglas L. Kriner, “Congress has three tools to counter Trump on Russia,” July 20, 2018.
Andrew Rudalevige, “If the Iran deal had been a Senate-confirmed treaty, would Trump have been forced to stay in? Nope,” May 9, 2018.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Yes, Congress could give Trump a line-item veto. And it might want to,” April 9, 2018.
Charles Zug and Connor M. Ewing, “What happened to the State of the Union address? Originally, it helped the president and Congress deliberate,” January 30, 2018.
Russell W. Mills and Jennifer L. Selin, “Congressional committee staffs have shrunk. Here’s one way Congress makes up the difference,” June 14, 2017.
Jordan Tama, “So Congress is challenging the president about sanctions? That has a long history,” June 16, 2017.
George Tsebelis, “This is why Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’ doesn’t work in politics,” March 29, 2017.
Douglas L. Kriner and Dino P. Christenson, “Congressional critics do check presidential power — by leading public opinion,” February 16, 2017.
Kevin R. Kosar and Andrew Rudalevige, “Should Congress have to approve every federal regulation? A debate,” February 2, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Congress wants to rein in presidential power. Will Trump sign on?” January 3, 2017.
Tony Lucadamo and Molly E. Reynolds, “5 tips on how U.S. presidents can work best with Congress,” December 1, 2016.
Thad Kousser, “If you want a more powerful President Trump, impose term limits on Congress,” October 19, 2016.
Andrew Rudalevige, “The Supreme Court just gave presidential power a passport,” June 9, 2015.
Patrick Hickey, “The Senate failed to override Obama’s veto of the Keystone Pipeline. Here’s why,” March 5, 2015.
Michael Lynch and Rachel Surminsky, “When Congress sues the president, it’s likely to fail,” November 20, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Six Degrees of al-Qaeda?” September 12, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “War Powers and the White House,” September 10, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Who needs Congress?” August 20, 2014.
Tobias T. Gibson, “Chadha’s lessons for the House lawsuit,” August 1, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “The lawsuit rolls forward,” July 31, 2014.
Tobias Gibson, “Looking to a lawsuit: Signing statements and the Supreme Court,” July 3, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “‘So sue me’: Obama, the House, and executive power,” July 2, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “How the partial death of the filibuster will shape the federal courts,” January 29, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Can the president save Congress from itself?” October 9, 2013.

Congress and war powers

Saikrishna Prakash, “Only Congress has the authority to declare war. Can it take that power back from the presidency?” October 2, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “The Republican Senate just rebuked Trump using the War Powers Act — for the third time. That’s remarkable,” February 14, 2020.
Douglas L. Kriner, “Don’t expect Congress to rein in Trump’s use of military force in the Middle East,” January 7, 2020.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Does Trump need Congress’s approval to go to war with Iran?” January 4, 2020.
Andrew Rudalevige, “No, a downed drone does not give Trump the authority to start a war. He still needs congressional authorization,” June 22, 2019.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Attacking Syria wasn’t legal a year ago. It’s still not,” April 13, 2018.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Here’s why the Trump administration may actually want Congress to pass a new authorization for military force,” November 20, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “When did Congress authorize fighting in Niger? That's an excellent question,” November 11, 2017.
Danielle Lupton, “Having fewer veterans in Congress makes it less likely to restrain the president’s use of force,” November 10, 2017.
Sarah Kreps and Miles McCain, “Congress keeps quiet on U.S. drone policy — and that's a big problem,” August 24, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Congress may give Trump legal authority to fight the Islamic State,” March 27, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Is the war against the Islamic State illegal? A new lawsuit should prompt Congress to decide,” May 11, 2016.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Should Obama bomb the Islamic State? Ask Congress first,” November 18, 2015.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Six degrees of al-Qaeda?” September 12, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “War powers and the White House,” September 10, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Who needs Congress?” August 20, 2014.

Congressional oversight

Sarah Binder, “Why is the Jan. 6 committee holding televised hearings?” June 13, 2022.
Jordan Tama, “Members of Congress want a commission to investigate the Capitol invasion. Here’s when these work,” January 19, 2021.
Liz Hempowicz and Anne Tindall, “Trump won’t cooperate with congressional oversight. Here are Congress’s options,” September 15, 2020.
Henry Farrell, “Trump’s top intelligence official is curtailing congressional briefings on foreign election interference,” September 1, 2020.
Douglas L. Kriner and Eric Schickler, “What can House Democrats accomplish with their
new oversight and investigative powers?” November 28, 2018.
Maya Kornberg, “Plenty of congressional hearings are not circuses. Here’s how we know,” August 14, 2018.
Casey Burgat and Charles Hunt, “Why was the Peter Strzok hearing such a circus? Because Congress wanted it that way,” July 17, 2018.
Christopher Mitchell, “Congress is about to loosen the reins on the banking industry. Here’s why,” May 21, 2018.
Jonathan Lewallen, “3 key takeaways from the Zuckerberg hearings,” April 12, 2018.
Douglas L. Kriner and Eric Schickler, “Why won’t Congress really investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia?” April 27, 2017.
Kevin R. Kosar and Andrew Rudalevige, “Should Congress have to approve every federal regulation? A debate,” February 2, 2017.
Tobias Gibson, “Effective oversight of the CIA depends on Congress,” December 24, 2014.
Michael Colaresi, “Why the CIA should want more congressional oversight, not less,” December 12, 2014.
Mark Kersten, “Did the Senate just open the U.S. up to ICC prosecution?” December 10, 2014.
Andrew Rudalevige, “The CIA’s new ‘family jewels’: Going back to Church?” March 13, 2014.

Polarization and partisanship

Henry Farrell, “Will Republicans weaponize intelligence if they take the House?” November 10, 2022
Alexandra Filindra, “Local officials face four kinds of threats. And they’re escalating,” November 8, 2022.
Jeffery A. Jenkins, “How the next Congress could overturn House elections,” November 2, 2022.
Mallory E. SoRelle and Serena Laws, “Four things to know about Biden’s student-debt relief plan,” September 2, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Will the Democrats’ big bill get past the hurdles of reconciliation?” August 6, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “How did a bipartisan group of senators agree on new gun measures?” June 13, 2022.
Richard C. Barton, “Congress is polarized. Fear of being ‘primaried’ is one reason,” June 10, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons Congress is still unlikely to pass new gun laws,” May 26, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Americans supported Jackson. Why didn’t more Republican senators?” April 8, 2022.

Lilliana Mason, Julie Wronski, and John V. Kane, “Republicans and Democrats have split over whether to support multiethnic democracy, our research shows,” January 3, 2022.
E.J. Graff, “These were our 10 most popular posts of 2021,” December 21, 2021.
Matt Malis, “Half of Biden’s ambassador positions are vacant. Here’s why that matters,” December 8, 2021.
SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, “Here’s how Republican and Democratic party leaders reward the faithful and punish wayward members,” December 14, 2021.
Maneesh Arora, “Rep. Boebert labels Rep. Omar a jihadist. Why don’t GOP leaders condemn the slur?” December 6, 2021.
Michele L. Swers, “How to decode the party politics that led to Rep. Gosar’s censure, ” November 22, 2021.
William Howell and Terry Moe, “Big government vastly expanded presidential power. Republicans use it to sabotage the administration,” November 1, 2021.
Jennifer Merolla, Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Ivy A.M. Cargile, Jill S. Greenlee, and Sarah Hayes, “Most Americans want Congress to support child care and elder care, our research finds – even many Republicans,” October 29, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “McConnell and Schumer ended their standoff over the new Senate. Who won and what happened?” January 26, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Congress and Trump have produced four emergency pandemic bills. Don’t expect a fifth anytime soon,” April 27, 2020.
Jordan Tama, Joshua Busby, Craig Kafura, Joshua D. Kertzer, and Jonathan Monten, “Congress has NATO’s back, despite Trump’s unilateralism,” April 3, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Here are 4 things to expect from a new, Trumpier, more polarized Congress,” November 7, 2018.
Alex Keena and Misty Knight-Finley, “Want a less partisan senator? Elect a former governor,” July 31, 2018.
Christopher Baylor, “President Trump is trying to reach across the aisle. Good luck with that,” October 18, 2017.
Danielle M. Thomsen, “This is why Charlie Dent and other moderates are disappearing from Congress,” September 12, 2017.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “This is why Trump’s legislative agenda is stuck in neutral,” April 26, 2017.
Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, “Does bipartisanship even work in today’s polarized Congress? Yes,” January 3, 2017.
James M. Curry and Frances Lee, “Congress is far more bipartisan than headlines suggest,” December 20, 2016.
Mary Nugent and Catherine Wineinger, “Yesterday’s Congressional women’s softball game was bipartisan. But are women actually more bipartisan in practice?” June 16, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “These four reasons explain why bipartisanship is breaking out all over. Will it last?” December 17, 2015.
Laurel Harbridge-Yong, “Congress is more bipartisan than you think,” May 4, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Bipartisan doc-fix passes the House: How did polarized parties do it?” March 26, 2015.
David Sherman and Leaf Van Boven, “How to reduce partisan gridlock,” December 7, 2014.
L.J. Zigerell, “Are Republicans really driving congressional polarization? Maybe not,” September 11, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “The Senate’s partisan fever (in 4 charts),” July 22, 2014.
John Sides, “Moderates are scared to run for Congress,” July 7, 2014.
John Sides, “What the N.C. Republican primary means for Senate polarization,” May 6, 2014.
Christopher Hare, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal, “Polarization in Congress has risen sharply. Where is it going next?” February 13, 2014.
Michele Swers, “Electing more women to Congress isn’t a solution for polarization,” January 13, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “Deal-making in a polarized Congress,” October 16, 2013.
Joshua Tucker, “Why compromise is more likely in the Senate than the House, in two simple pictures,” October 7, 2013.

Party factions

Jeffery A. Jenkins, “How the next Congress could overturn House elections,” November 2, 2022
Seth Masket, “A third party could be successful. But probably not this one,” August 3, 2022.
Jordan Tama, “Congressional Democrats and Republicans are united in confronting Russia. That unity won’t last,” March 4, 2022.
Mary F. (Molly) Scudder, “The RNC called the Jan. 6 events ‘legitimate political discourse.’ What does that even mean?” February 28, 2022.
Neilan S. Chaturvedi, “What do Manchin and Sinema want?” January 26, 2022.
Adam Hilton,“Despite Manchin and Sinema, Democrats are more united than they’ve been for decades,” January 25, 2022.
E.J. Graff, “These were our 10 most popular posts of 2021,” December 21, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Why is Manchin such a thorn in the Democratic Party’s side? Let us count the reasons,” December 20, 2021.
Joshua McCabe and Elizabeth Popp Berman, “Rubio attacked Romney’s child allowance proposal as ‘welfare.’ Why are conservatives fighting over family support?” February 10, 2021.
Matthew N. Green, “How Liz Cheney survived the attempt to oust her from House leadership,” February 6, 2021.
Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth Roberts, “Some GOP members didn’t accept Biden’s win. What happens when an anti-democratic faction rocks a democracy?” January 27, 2021.
David A. Hopkins, “What Roy Moore tells us about the Republican Party,” June 29, 2019.
Jeffrey S. Lantis, “Nancy Pelosi said ‘the Squad’ was just ‘four people.’ But here’s why they might succeed,” July 25, 2019.
Matthew Green, “How the House Freedom Caucus found an unlikely ally: Donald Trump,” April 15, 2019.
Christian Fong, “How Nancy Pelosi overcame her opposition and became House speaker. Again,” January 4, 2018.
Matthew Green and Douglas Harris, “Is Nancy Pelosi in trouble?” August 21, 2018.
Robert N. Lupton, William M. Myers, and Judd Thornton, “Republicans are the party of ideological inconsistency,” October 2, 2017.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “This is why Trump’s legislative agenda is stuck in neutral,” April 26, 2017.
Andrew J. Clarke, “Trump is tweeting threats at the Freedom Caucus. Good luck with that,” April 5, 2017.
Ruth Bloch Rubin, “This is why the Freedom Caucus called the shots on Trump’s health-care bill,” March 27, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “This is why the Republicans struggle over Obamacare,” March 9, 2017.
Henry Farrell, “Republicans say their midnight vote was about bridge building. Actually, it was bridge burning,” January 12, 2017.
Scott Meinke, “This is how Paul Ryan can bring House Republicans together,” December 12, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “These are the House Republicans who have abandoned Donald Trump,” October 9, 2016.
Anthony Madonna and Kevin R. Kosar, “The House Freedom Caucus wants looser party control on the floor. This is what would happen if they got it,” November 4, 2015.
Patrick J. Egan, “No, Congressional Republicans haven’t become more polarized,” October 30, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Can Paul Ryan disarm the Freedom Caucus?” October 26, 2015.
Jesse Richman, “By insisting on the ‘Hastert Rule,’ the House Freedom Caucus is endangering the GOP,” October 20, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “This is how the Freedom Caucus has taken the House hostage,” October 12, 2015.
Justin Buchler, “How divided government and party polarization brought down John Boehner,” September 27, 2015.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III, “Boehner’s dissidents: More historical context about speakership revolts,” January 8, 2015.
Matthew Green, “The 5 species of House Republicans,” October 5, 2013.

Electoral politics

Election forecasting

Carlos Algara and Byengseon Bae, “Did amateur candidates cost Republicans the U.S. Senate?” December 7, 2022.
Jeffery A. Jenkins, “How the next Congress could overturn House elections,” November 2, 2022
Eric Groenendyk, Erik Kimbrough, Yphtach Lelkes, and Mark Pickup, “Liz Cheney is extremely conservative. That won’t win over conservatives,” August 2, 2022.
Clarence Lusane, “How D.C. could decide the next presidential election,” July 20, 2022.
Meagan Carmack, Nives Dolšak, and Aseem Prakash, “For Democrats, trying to slow climate change is good politics,” July 15, 2022.
David Brady and Bruce Cain, “If Democrats listen to AOC, they’re going to lose seats,” July 13, 2022.
Steven Brint, “Can Democrats appeal to both professionals and blue-collar workers? Yes, but only on these issues,” January 11, 2022.
Eric R.A.N. Smith, “Early election forecast: Republicans could lose 38 seats and House majority,” January 10, 2018.
John Sides, “New forecast: Only a 55 percent chance that Jon Ossoff wins Georgia’s House special election,” June 20, 2017.
Eric McGhee, “The Democrats are likely to win a majority of House votes, but not a majority of House seats. Again,” October 21, 2016.
John Sides, “Republicans currently have just a 38 percent chance of keeping their Senate majority,” August 24, 2016.
Ben Highton, “An initial assessment of Election Lab’s House forecasts,” November 11, 2014.
John Sides, “Election Lab on track to forecast 35 of 36 Senate races correctly,” November 4, 2015.
Ben Highton, “Forecasters agree that Republicans will control the House,” November 4, 2014.
John Sides, “Final forecast: Republicans have a 98 percent chance of taking the Senate,” November 4, 2014.
Eric McGhee, “Why the polls are better than ever at predicting Senate races,” October 28, 2014.
Eric McGhee, “Is the Election Lab forecast too confident in a GOP Senate majority?” October 21, 2014.
John Sides, “Why late shifts in the polls probably won’t help Democrats in Senate races,” October 17, 2014.
Ben Highton, “It’s mostly quiet on the House front,” October 14, 2014.
Paul Gronke and Phillip Ardoin, “Newest midterm forecasts are bullish for the GOP,” October 6, 2014.
Ben Highton, “Good news for Senate Democrats. Maybe,” September 16, 2014.
John Sides, “There was a major shake-up in the Kansas Senate race. Or was there?” September 4, 2014.
John Sides, “New forecast gives GOP a 63 percent chance of taking the Senate,” August 22, 2014.
John Sides, “New Election Lab forecast suggests 86 percent chance that GOP wins Senate,” July 15, 2014.
John Sides, “What’s the value of early Senate polls?” July 10, 2014.
Ben Highton, “The battlefield for party control of the Senate narrows,” May 21, 2014.
John Sides, “Republicans have a 77 percent chance of taking the Senate,” May 16, 2014.
John Sides, “Why the Senate forecasting models differ,” May 6, 2014.
John Sides, “How big could the GOP House majority get?” April 18, 2014.
John Sides, “Why Republicans can be even more optimistic about taking the Senate,” March 31, 2014.
John Sides, “Politico mocks and then agrees with our Senate forecast,” February 7, 2014
Ben Highton, “For Democrats running for Senate, 2014 is an unlucky year,” February 6, 2014.
Ben Highton, “How Republicans can win the Senate in 2014,” February 6, 2014.
Andrew Gelman, “Republicans have a 54 percent chance of taking the Senate,” January 29, 2014.
John Sides, “Republicans have a 44 percent chance of taking the Senate. But it may be much higher,” January 27, 2014.
John Sides, “Radel’s resignation leaves our House forecast unchanged,” January 27, 2014.
John Sides, “Democrats currently have a 1 percent chance of retaking the House,” December 20, 2013.
David Parker and Robert Saldin, “What Max Baucus’s departure means for the Montana Senate race,” December 19, 2013.
Andrew Gelman, “Republicans on track to retain control of House in 2014,” October 28, 2013.
Nicholas Goedert, “How many votes do the Democrats need to retake the House? Maybe less than you think.,” October 23, 2013.

Electoral dynamics

Jeffery A. Jenkins, “How the next Congress could overturn House elections,” November 2, 2022.
Seth Masket, “A third party could be successful. But probably not this one,” August 3, 2022.
Clarence Lusane, “How D.C. could decide the next presidential election,” July 20, 2022.
David Brady and Bruce Cain, “If Democrats listen to AOC, they’re going to lose seats,” July 13, 2022.
Jordan Kujala, “Republican candidates listen to extremist donors more than voters,” July 12, 2022.
Christopher Cooper and Michael Bitzer, “Democrats are voting in GOP primaries. Did they sink Madison Cawthorn?” June 16, 2022.
Richard C. Barton, “Congress is polarized. Fear of being ‘primaried’ is one reason,” June 10, 2022.
Alexandra Filindra, “What lies behind mistrust of government and doubts about the election? White racial bias,” January 31, 2022.
Florian Gawehns and Amy Meli, “Are U.S. companies punishing Republicans for Jan. 6? Here’s what our research finds,” January 5, 2022.
Christopher Stout, “Big-name Democrats are campaigning in Virginia’s race for governor. Does that help candidates?” October 25, 2021.
Stephen Nuño-Perez, “How incoming Sen. Alex Padilla could help Democrats among Latino voters,” January 20, 2021.
Neil Chaturvedi and Chris Haynes, “Cozying up to Trump may have hurt Perdue and Loeffler in the Georgia run-off,” January 10, 2021.
Lee Drutman, “There’s a reason why Lisa Murkowski can threaten to leave the Republicans,” January 9, 2021.
Angele Delevoye, “The WNBA influenced the Georgia Senate race, new research finds,” November 30, 2020.
Robert S. Erikson and Gerald Wright, “Would Republicans pay a price if they vote to impeach the president? Here’s what we know from 1974,” November 19, 2019.
Michael Tesler, “Of course Trump has something on Lindsey Graham: His voters,” January 21, 2019.
Christopher T. Stout and Jennifer R. Garcia, “Mia Love is right. The loss of black Republicans in Congress really could hurt the party with black voters,” December 12, 2018.
David Lublin, “Eight white-majority districts elected black members of Congress this year. That’s a breakthrough,” November 19, 2018.
Rebecca Best and Jeremy M. Teigen, “An unprecedented number of female military veterans ran as Democrats this year. Here’s why they were unusually successful,” November 14, 2018.
Matthew Green, “Was it a ‘blue wave’ or not? That depends on how you define a ‘wave’,” November 13, 2018.
John Sides, “New election poll shows Democratic voters are more engaged and Democratic House incumbents more popular,” June 13, 2018.
Eric McGhee, “Yes, Democrats will be running in every California House race this fall. Here’s why this is big news,” June 6, 2018.
Amanda Clayton and Pär Zetterberg, “Will 2018’s ‘pink wave’ of female candidates make it in Congress? Almost certainly. Here’s how,” May 30, 2018.
David C.W. Parker, “Trump’s threats are unlikely to hurt Sen. Jon Tester. In fact, they may help him,” May 2, 2018.
Hans Hassell, “The lesson of the Steny Hoyer controversy: Party insiders still matter after all,” May 1, 2018.
John Sides, “How Democrats are dominating special elections — in one graph,” December 13, 2017.
Alexandra Filindra and Laurel Harbridge-Yong, “This is why more Republicans in Congress haven’t criticized Trump,” August 2, 2017.
Brendan J. Doherty and Jessica C. Gerrity, “Trump raided Congress for his Cabinet, giving us four special elections. Will that hurt Republicans?” June 16, 2017.
Michael Barber, “How incumbency, not gerrymandering, may protect the Republican House majority,” October 27, 2016.
Thad Kousser, “If you want a more powerful President Trump, impose term limits on Congress,” October 19, 2016.
John Sides and Eric McGhee, “Will Donald Trump cost Republicans the House? It’s very unlikely,” October 18, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “These are the House Republicans who have abandoned Donald Trump,” October 9, 2016.
Danny Hayes, “Here’s what new research tells us about presidential ‘coattails’ in down-ballot races,” September 23, 2016.
John Sides, “Is Trump threatening the GOP’s Senate majority? Not yet,” June 15, 2016.
Corrine McConnaughy, “Why the Congressional Black Caucus endorsement of Hillary Clinton is a really big deal,” February 15, 2016.
Zoltan L. Hajnal, “Opposition to immigration reform is a winning strategy for Republicans,” February 27, 2015.
Danny Hayes, “Don’t sleep on Senate endorsements,” October 27, 2014.
John Sides, “Why Republicans may avoid the ghost of Senate elections past,” April 9, 2014.
Eric McGhee, “The midterm penalty is hurting Democrats in the Senate too,” April 2, 2014.
Ben Highton, “The 8 most pivotal Senate seats in 2014,” April 1, 2014.
Eric McGhee, “How the “midterm penalty” is hurting Democrats,” February 11, 2014.

Redistricting

Eric McGhee, Christopher Warshaw, and Michal Migurski, “How Black and Latino people did in this last round of redistricting,” October 7, 2022.
Michael Greenberger, “Republicans want to break up Maricopa County, Jim Crow-style,” April 19, 2022.
Charles Hunt, “Politics is still local. When incumbents face off in redrawn districts, community ties make a big difference,” November 30, 2021.
John Sides, “What comes next in the fight against partisan gerrymandering,” October 13, 2018.
Richard Pildes, “Why gerrymandering is going to get even worse,” April 26, 2018.
Christopher Ingraham, “Pennsylvania Republicans have drawn a new congressional map that is just as gerrymandered as the old one,” February 11, 2018.
Ryan D. Williamson, Michael Crespin, Maxwell Palmer, and Barry C. Edwards, “This is how to get rid of gerrymandered districts,” March 17, 2017.
Anthony J. McGann, Charles Anthony Smith, Michael Latner and Alex Keena, “We have a standard for judging partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court should use it,” February 2, 2017.
Bernard Grofman, “The Supreme Court will examine partisan gerrymandering in 2017. That could change the voting map.,” January 31, 2017.
Michael Barber, “How incumbency, not gerrymandering, may protect the Republican House majority,” October 27, 2016.
John Gastil, “The Republicans’ big gerrymander could backfire in a major way,” August 10, 2016.
John Sides, “Why weird congressional districts can be good congressional districts,” May 8, 2014.

Primaries

Jeffery A. Jenkins, “How the next Congress could overturn House elections,” November 2, 2022
David Brady and Bruce Cain, “If Democrats listen to AOC, they’re going to lose seats,” July 13, 2022.
Richard C. Barton, “Congress is polarized. Fear of being ‘primaried’ is one reason.” June 10, 2022.
Thomas Gift, “Will Pennsylvania vote for a Harvard grad with a working-class image?” May 27, 2022.
Christopher Cooper and Michael Bitzer, “Democrats are voting in GOP primaries. Did they sink Madison Cawthorn?” June 16, 2022.
Mia Costa, Zachary Albert, and Raymond J. La Raja, “MAGA was the real winner of the Ohio Republican primary,” May 13, 2022.
Jan Zilinsky, “Why didn’t more congressional Republicans condemn Trump’s racist tweets about the ‘Squad’? This graph explains,” July 20, 2019.
Eric McGhee, “Yes, Democrats will be running in every California House race this fall. Here’s why this is big news,” June 6, 2018.
Robert Boatright, “Here’s what we’ve learned from the U.S. congressional primaries so far,” June 5, 2018.
Seth J. Hill, “Want to change Congress? Change who votes in ‘safe’ Republican or Democratic primaries,” May 4, 2017.
John Sides, “An expert on congressional primaries weighs in on Cantor’s loss,” June 12, 2014.

Congressional institutions

John D. Rackey, Lauren C. Bell, and Kevin R. Kosar, “House committees are hearing from fewer witnesses. That hurts public policy,” January 28, 2022.
Jeffrey Clemens and Stan Veuger, “The economy is still in pandemic shock. But some state governments are flush with cash,” December 15, 2021.
Jeffrey Lazarus, “Democrats are bringing earmarks back. Aren’t earmarks bad?” February 18, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Democrats might use ‘reconciliation’ to pass Biden’s pandemic relief package. What’s reconciliation?” February 4, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “What to expect when Congress counts the electoral college votes on Wednesday,” January 4, 2021.
Joshua Huder, “Democrats want to modernize the House. Good luck with that,” January 18, 2019.
Alex Theodoridis, Peter Hanson, and Travis Johnston, “Trump just praised earmarks. Here’s what the fuss is about,” January 12, 2018.
Philip Joyce, “The Trump administration detests the Congressional Budget Office. Here’s why it’s important,” June 13, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “This is why the Congressional Budget Office will likely survive Republican attacks,” March 15, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “Who will watch the House watchdogs?” January 3, 2017.

The filibuster

Sarah Binder, “Will the Democrats’ big bill get past the hurdles of reconciliation?” August 6, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “What were Democrats thinking when they tried – and failed – to pass their voting rights bill?” January 21, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “McConnell and Schumer cut a deal to raise the debt limit without any Republican votes. Here’s how it works,” December 9, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Biden says bring back the ‘talking filibuster.’ Would that really let Senate Democrats pass bills?” March 17, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “This is why the Senate is at a nuclear brink,” April 5, 2017.
Jennifer L. McCoy, “Before going nuclear, Republicans and Democrats might consider these four lessons from polarized democracies,” April 3, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “This is why Senate Republicans might (not) go nuclear,” November 14, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “Everything you need to know about the Senate Democrats’ filibuster on gun control,” June 16, 2016.
Gregory Koger, “Here are four possible reasons that the White House wants a filibuster on the Iran nuclear deal,” September 9, 2015.
Gregory Koger, “How do you try to stop fast-track trade authority? With three separate filibusters,” May 22, 2015.
Gregory Koger, “Senate flashback: The opening day filibuster over a racist senator in 1947,” January 6, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Why Republicans are unlikely to reverse the ‘nuclear option’,” December 4, 2014.
Peter Hanson, “Mitch McConnell’s uphill battle to reform the appropriations process,” November 14, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “How we count Senate filibusters and why it matters,” May 15, 2014.
Richard Arenberg, “A tied Senate could end the filibuster, once and for all,” February 11, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “How the partial death of the filibuster will shape the federal courts,” January 29, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “Fate of the filibuster in a post-nuclear Senate,” November 24, 2013.
Tom Clark and Sanford Gordon, “Was the nuclear option about filling the courts or filling the courts with Democrats?” November 23, 2013.
Sarah Binder, “Boom! What the Senate will be like when the nuclear dust settles,” November 21, 2013.
Gregory Koger, “Reid’s tactical nuke and the future of the Senate,” November 21, 2013.
Sarah Binder, “Will Senate Democrats go nuclear?” November 20, 2013.
Sarah Binder, “What Senate cloture votes tell us about obstruction,” November 12, 2013.
Sarah Binder, “Will nuclear winter come to the Senate this fall?” October 31, 2013.

Advise and consent

Sarah Binder, “Americans supported Jackson. Why didn’t more Republican senators?” April 8, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Yes, Senate Republicans could still confirm Barrett before the election,” October 5, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “What will the Senate do about Trump’s Supreme Court nominee?” September 22, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “The Republican Senate went nuclear again to speed up confirming conservative judges,” April 6, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “The Senate confirmed Eric Miller to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — despite his home state senators’ objections. That’s new,” February 28, 2019.
Gregory Eady, Jan Zilinsky, Jonathan Nagler, and Joshua Tucker, “Trying to understand how Jeff Flake is leaning? We analyzed his Twitter feed — and were surprised,” October 5, 2018.
Chaya Crowder, “From race to #MeToo, what’s changed between Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford — and what hasn’t?” September 28, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “4 reasons why the Kavanaugh hearings have become a stalled tropical storm,” September 22, 2018.
Justin Wedeking, “No, it’s not just theater. Here’s what to expect from the Kavanaugh hearings this week,” September 4, 2018.
Andrew Rudalevige, “This is why the Senate should care about Brett Kavanaugh’s time as Bush’s staff secretary,” August 4, 2018.
Michele L. Swers, “Will Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski support Trump’s Supreme Court nominee? Here’s what history tells us,” July 6, 2018.
Michael Bailey, “Will the Supreme Court really lurch rightward with Trump’s next appointment?” July 2, 2018.
Rorie Spill Solberg and Eric N. Waltenburg, “Are Trump’s judicial nominees really being confirmed at a record pace? The answer is complicated,” June 14, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “The Senate just made it a lot easier for Trump to appoint federal judges, over Democrats' objections,” November 20, 2017.
Ian Ostrander, “Senate Democrats are battling every Trump nomination. Here’s how that can hurt Trump’s policies,” February 15, 2017.
Mona Vakilifathi, “The DeVos confirmation vote suggests Trump will have a tough time passing a school voucher law,” February 8, 2017.
Richard L. Vining, Jr., “Trump might push to confirm his Supreme Court nominee quickly. That would cost him,” February 3, 2017.
John Sides, “New forecast: Rex Tillerson almost certain to be confirmed by the Senate,” January 11, 2017.
Barbara A. Perry and Marc J. Selverstone, “Holding hearings for Merrick Garland would actually help Senate Republicans. Here’s how,” April 19, 2016.
Barbara A. Perry, “One-third of all U.S. presidents appointed a Supreme Court justice in an election year,” February 29, 2016.
Brandon Bartels, “When was the last Supreme Court nomination in which stakes were this high? Maybe never,” February 25, 2016.
Charles Cameron and John Kastellec, “How an Obama Supreme Court nominee could win confirmation in the Senate,” February 17, 2016.
Michael A. Bailey, “Who will Obama nominate to replace Scalia? Here’s how to think about it,” February 15, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “Should this Senate fill Justice Scalia’s Supreme Court seat? Beware the ‘argle-bargle’,” February 14, 2016.

Impeachment

E.J. Graff, “These were our 10 most popular posts of 2021,” December 21, 2021.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Eric M. Patashnik, “McConnell wants the impeachment trial to be about Congress’s authority — not about loyalty to Trump,” January 25, 2021.
Michael Tesler, “These 3 graphs explain why more House Republicans did not support impeachment,” January 14, 2021.
Paul von Hippel, “Romney’s not really alone. Republican senators were ready to oust Nixon in 1974,” February 12, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Mitt Romney changed the impeachment story, all by himself. Here are 3 reasons that matters,” February 6, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Bolton has disrupted the Senate impeachment trial. What happens now?” January 29, 2020.
Matt Glassman, “What have we learned from the impeachment trial so far?” January 28, 2020.
Emily B. Jackson, Eric Parajon, Susan Peterson, Ryan Powers, and Michael J. Tierney, “Has Trump abused his presidential powers, as the House charges? Foreign policy scholars think so,” January 25, 2020.
Steven S. Smith, “What to expect when you’re expecting a Senate impeachment trial,” January 10, 2020.
David Samuels, “Would Republican senators ever vote to convict Trump? Here’s what we can learn from the rest of the world,” November 27, 2019.
Anthony Bertelli and Christian Grose, “To remove Trump from office, Democrats need these GOP senators,” November 25, 2019.
Robert S. Erikson and Gerald Wright, “Would Republicans pay a price if they vote to impeach the president? Here’s what we know from 1974,” November 19, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “When the House votes on an impeachment inquiry today, Pelosi will win more than Republicans will,” October 31, 2019.
Martin Wattenberg, “Would a ‘not guilty’ impeachment verdict help Trump?” October 24, 2019.
John Chin, David Carter, and Joseph Wright, “No, the Trump impeachment inquiry is not a coup,” October 15, 2019.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Is the impeachment inquiry really ‘unconstitutional’?” October 10, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Pelosi finally called for an impeachment inquiry. Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes,” September 27, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Here’s why Pelosi won’t allow the House to pursue impeachment — at least not yet,” June 15, 2019.
Keith E. Whittington, “So what exactly counts as an impeachable offense?” May 24, 2017.

Congressional leadership

Matthew Green and Douglas Harris, “Yes, McCarthy is still House Republican leader. Who’s the new GOP whip?” November 17, 2022.
Katherine Tate, “The House might pass a long-ignored bill to study reparations for slavery. Why now?” March 23, 2022.
Matthew N. Green, “How Liz Cheney survived the attempt to oust her from House leadership,” February 6, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “McConnell and Schumer ended their standoff over the new Senate. Who won and what happened?” January 26, 2021.
Michael Tesler, “The impeachment inquiry is making Nancy Pelosi more popular,” October 18, 2019.
Michael Tesler, “Opposing Trump is making Nancy Pelosi more popular,” January 15, 2019.
Christian Fong, “How Nancy Pelosi overcame her opposition and became House speaker. Again,” January 4, 2018.
Ruth Bloch Rubin, “Will Nancy Pelosi be the next speaker of the House? Here are 4 lessons for her challengers,” November 27, 2018.
Matthew Green and Douglas Harris, “Is Nancy Pelosi in trouble?” August 21, 2018.
Larry Bartels, “How Paul Ryan lost the Republican Party,” April 15, 2018.
Matthew Green, “Paul Ryan is departing in a most unusual way,” April 11, 2018.
Matthew Green, “Is Nancy Pelosi unpopular because she’s a woman — or because she was speaker of the House?” March 20, 2018.
Matthew Green, “What Paul Ryan can learn from John Boehner’s ‘tell-all’ interview,” November 1, 2017.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “Here are the 4 reasons McConnell couldn’t get the Senate to replace Obamacare — yet,” July 18, 2017.
James M. Curry and David Karol, “Why would Pelosi step down? Parties don’t usually throw out congressional leaders after electoral losses,” June 30, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “Yes, Mitch McConnell’s secretive lawmaking is really unusual — in these 4 ways,” June 19, 2017.
Jonathan Lewallen, “Republican leaders in Congress want to move fast. That’s risky,” January 24, 2017.
Scott Meinke, “This is how Paul Ryan can bring House Republicans together,” December 12, 2016.
Matthew Green and Douglas Harris, “Nancy Pelosi will probably beat Tim Ryan. But that doesn’t mean her job is secure,” November 18, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “Can Paul Ryan disarm the Freedom Caucus?” October 26, 2015.
Joshua Tucker, “Could Nancy Pelosi be the next speaker of the House?” October 9, 2015.
John W. Patty, “What John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy understand about the art of war,” October 9, 2015.
Justin Buchler, “Would Kevin McCarthy face a revolt as Speaker of the House? It depends on this,” October 5, 2015.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III, “What happened to John Boehner hasn’t happened in a century. No one knows what comes next,” September 30, 2015.
Justin Buchler, “How divided government and party polarization brought down John Boehner,” September 27, 2015.
Matthew Green, “John Boehner is leaving one of the worst jobs in Washington,” September 25, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “This is why John Boehner’s resignation might not matter much at all,” September 25, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Why can’t Mitch McConnell keep his promises?” May 26, 2015.
Matthew Green, “Boehner’s problem isn’t just House Republicans. It’s House Democrats, too,” March 2, 2015.
Jeffery A. Jenkins, “Boehner’s defeat was actually really unusual. Here’s why,” February 28, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “The McConnell-Boehner bicameral blame game,” February 6, 2015.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III, “Boehner’s dissidents: More historical context about speakership revolts,” January 8, 2015.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III, “The revolt against Boehner in historical perspective,” January 6, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Can Mitch McConnell repair the Senate?” November 12, 2014.
Matthew Green, “Why Pete Sessions quit the race for House majority leader,” June 13, 2014.
John Sides, “House Republicans do not need Jesus Christ as their speaker,” February 6, 2014.

Fiscal policy

Ian G. Anson and John V. Kane, “Everyone loves to hate the IRS. That’s a problem,” April 22, 2022.
Philip Rocco, Daniel Béland, and Alex Waddan, “Build Back Better offers pre-K and child-care funding. States might not sign on,” December 16, 2021.
Jeffrey Clemens and Stan Veuger, “The economy is still in pandemic shock. But some state governments are flush with cash,” December 15, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “McConnell and Schumer cut a deal to raise the debt limit without any Republican votes. Here’s how it works,” December 9, 2021.
Jennifer Bouek, “As written, Build Back Better could support — or devastate — child care for disadvantaged working parents,” December 6, 2021.
Nikita Lalwani, “Can Senate Democrats pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package? Ask the parliamentarian,” February 18, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Democrats might use ‘reconciliation’ to pass Biden’s pandemic relief package. What’s reconciliation?” February 4, 2021.
Molly Reynolds, “Members of Congress have lost control over spending,” August 27, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Congress moved quickly on the massive emergency spending bill. Here are four takeaways,” March 26, 2020.
Molly E. Reynolds, “Congress is arguing over federal spending again. This explains why,” September 27, 2019.
Steven Kull, “Could the public do better than Congress at controlling the deficit?” August 20, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Three takeaways from Congress’s ability to avoid a shutdown — this time around, at least,” February 15, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Why the shutdown ended — and what to watch for now,” January 26, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “What will it take to end the shutdown? Watch these three things,” January 7, 2019.
Molly E. Reynolds and Peter Hanson, “There might not be a government shutdown this year. This is big news,” September 19, 2018.
Christopher Mitchell, “Congress is about to loosen the reins on the banking industry. Here’s why,” May 21, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “Three things we learned from the omnibus spending bill,” March 23, 2018.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “Four takeaways from the short-lived shutdown,” January 24, 2018.
Molly E. Reynolds, “Yes, Congress could shut the government down tomorrow. It probably won’t,” January 18, 2018.
John Sides, “Congress just averted a government shutdown — but maybe not for long,” December 8, 2017.
Molly E. Reynolds, “This is why the congressional budget process is broken,” October 26, 2017.
Frances Lee, “This is how Trump turned the politics of the debt ceiling upside down,” September 10, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Forget the ‘regular’ process of lawmaking. Here’s how Congress really uses its ‘power of the purse’,” September 7, 2017.
Molly E. Reynolds, “Congress just dodged a government shutdown. Here’s what comes next,” April 28, 2017.
Joshua Busby, “What could make Americans — and Congress — care about Zika?” August 17, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “Here are four (and a half) takeaways from the new budget deal,” October 28, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “This is why some Republicans keep threatening to take the government hostage,” September 16, 2015.
Russell W. Mills, Nicole Kalaf-Hughes, and Jason A. MacDonald, “This is what will make it harder for Congress to pass a budget this fall,” August 18, 2015.
Eric Patashnik, “Here are the 5 reasons Republicans are trying to cut research on evidence-based medicine,” June 22, 2015.
John Sides, “Why Congress should not cut funding to the social sciences,” June 10, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “How and why the ‘Cromnibus’ didn’t crumble,” December 12, 2014.
Peter Hanson, “Mitch McConnell’s uphill battle to reform the appropriations process,” November 14, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “Power of the purse in peril?” September 19, 2014.
John Sides, “House bill would cut social science funding by 42 percent,” March 13, 2014.
Sarah Binder, “What the emerging budget deal means (and doesn’t mean) for Congress,” December 11, 2013.
Sarah Binder, “Deal-making in a polarized Congress,” October 16, 2013.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Can the president save Congress from itself?” October 9, 2013.

Congress and monetary policy

Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “The 4 challenges Jerome Powell will face in leading the Fed,” November 2, 2017.
David A. Singer, “Congress could limit the Fed’s independence — and hurt the U.S. economy,” February 13, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “A brief history of attempts to audit the Fed. (Rand Paul is a latecomer),” January 11, 2016.
Rob Galantucci, “Why it is so difficult for Congress to act on currency manipulation,” May 20, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “The politics of centralizing power in the Fed,” March 10, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Why Congressional challenges to the Yellen Fed matter,” February 24, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Audit the Fed … on steroids,” July 8, 2014.

Congress and policy

Aviation

Ashley Nunes, “3 takeaways from Boeing’s grilling in Congress,” November 1, 2019.
Ashley Nunes, “ After the Southwest jet’s emergency landing, will Congress change airline safety rules?” April 19, 2018.

Climate change

Matthew N. Green, “How did the Democrats’ major spending bill get off life support?” August 8, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “It’s not just Manchin. Here’s why Congress struggles to pass climate bills,” July 26, 2022.
Joshua A. Schwartz and Sabrina B. Arias, “Americans agree with their state and local officials on climate action,” July 26, 2022.
Meagan Carmack, Nives Dolšak, and Aseem Prakash, “For Democrats, trying to slow climate change is good politics,” July 15, 2022.
Jeff D. Colgan, “Trump wants to buy Greenland. He might want to know about the toxic nuclear waste buried in its ice,” August 16, 2019.
Todd Tucker, “There’s a big new headache for the Green New Deal,” June 28, 2019.
Leah Stokes, “Can the Green New Deal make it through Congress? Here are 5 things you need to know,” February 21, 2019.

Civil rights

Regina Bateson, “Congress passes an important anti-lynching bill. But the U.S. is still fertile ground for vigilantes,” March 11, 2022.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Justin Peck, “Congress finally passed a federal anti-lynching bill – after 120 years of failure,” March 9, 2022.
Nicole E. Willcoxon, “The Senate failed to restore this voting rights protection. My research shows it worked,” January 21, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “What were Democrats thinking when they tried – and failed – to pass their voting rights bill?” January 21, 2022.
Peter Miller and Anna Harris, “Sen. Manchin’s Freedom to Vote Act would help stop gerrymandering, our research finds.” January 10, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Congress can’t easily pass police reforms. Here’s why,” June 5, 2020.
Thomas M. Keck, “These are the roadblocks to the Democrats’ big voting rights bill,” March 7, 2019.

Covid-19

Adam Dean and Jamie McCallum, “Unions say they help stop covid-19 from spreading. They may be right,” April 27, 2022.
Jeffrey Clemens and Stan Veuger, “The economy is still in pandemic shock. But some state governments are flush with cash,” December 15, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Democrats moved Biden’s pandemic relief bill quickly. Their work will get a lot harder from here,” March 9, 2021.
Nikita Lalwani, “Can Senate Democrats pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package? Ask the parliamentarian,” February 18, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Why Congress finally passed a coronavirus relief bill,” December 22, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Congress and Trump have produced four emergency pandemic bills. Don’t expect a fifth anytime soon,” April 27, 2020.
Lawrence R. Jacobs, Suzanne Mettler, and Ling Zhu, “Republicans are relying on the Affordable Care Act to respond to the pandemic,” April 27, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “Congress moved quickly on the massive emergency spending bill. Here are four takeaways,” March 26, 2020.
Caleb Ziolkowski, “Senators dumped stocks amid the coronavirus crisis. Here’s what we know about Congress and financial self-interest,” March 25, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “The House moved quickly on a covid-19 response bill. These 4 takeaways explain what’s likely to happen next,” March 14, 2020.

Employment discrimination

Jennifer Merolla, Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Ivy A.M. Cargile, Jill S. Greenlee, and Sarah Hayes, “Most Americans want Congress to support child care and elder care, our research finds – even many Republicans,” October 29, 2021.
Megan Sholar, “Yes, Gillibrand and DeLauro introduced a family leave bill. More important, Republicans are introducing paid leave bills, too,” February 20, 2019.
Andrew Gelman, “Polls say ENDA has majority support in every congressional district,” November 20, 2013.
Jeff Lax and Justin Phillips, “Memo to Senate Republicans: Your constituents want you to vote for ENDA,” November 3, 2013.

Foreign policy

Jordan Tama, “Congressional Democrats and Republicans are united in confronting Russia. That unity won’t last,” March 4, 2022.
Alexandra Stark, “Congress failed to block the sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia. Why?” December 23, 2021.
Matt Malis, “Half of Biden’s ambassador positions are vacant. Here’s why that matters,” December 8, 2021.
Shibley Telhami, “Israel is about to reveal its West Bank annexation plans. How will Congress respond?” June 22, 2020.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Executive agreements and Senate disagreements,” March 10, 2015.

Gun control

Kaylin Bourdon, “Some activists lean on ‘motherhood’ for authority in gun law debates,” July 4, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “How did a bipartisan group of senators agree on new gun measures?” June 13, 2022.
Abigail Vegter and Alexandra Middlewood, “The ‘massacre generation’ believes government can prevent mass shootings,” June 8, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons Congress is still unlikely to pass new gun laws,” May 26, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “No, Congress won’t pass gun background checks ‘like we’ve never had before.’ Here’s why,” August 26, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons you should expect congressional gridlock on gun control,” February 27, 2018.
Matthew Green, “Democrats hijacked the House yesterday. But will it accomplish anything?” June 23, 2016.
Sarah Binder, “Everything you need to know about the Senate Democrats’ filibuster on gun control,” June 16, 2016.

Healthcare

Michele L. Swers, “What will Congress do on abortion post-Roe?” May 10, 2022.
Michele L. Swers and Kelly L. Rolfes-Haase, “The Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding of abortion. Will House Democrats repeal it?” February 23, 2021.
Lawrence R. Jacobs, Suzanne Mettler, and Ling Zhu, “Republicans are relying on the Affordable Care Act to respond to the pandemic,” April 27, 2020.
Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Kevin Wallsten, “Should contraception be sold over the counter? AOC and Ted Cruz aren’t actually allies on this,” June 24, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Four lessons from the GOP failure to repeal Obamacare,” July 28, 2017.
Erika Franklin Fowler and Sarah E. Gollust, “Here’s how local TV news is making it harder for the Senate to repeal Obamacare,” July 26, 2017.
Robert Y. Shapiro and Greg M. Shaw, “Why can’t the Senate repeal Obamacare? Because its policies are actually popular,” July 19, 2017.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “Here are the 4 reasons McConnell couldn’t get the Senate to replace Obamacare — yet,” July 18, 2017.
David C. Barker and Christopher Jan Carman, “This is why so many Republicans are ready to ignore public opinion on health care,” June 27, 2017.
Erika Franklin Fowler, Laura M. Baum, Courtney H. Laermer, and Sarah E. Gollust, “This is what Americans will really dislike about the House ‘Trumpcare’ bill,” May 5, 2017.
Ruth Bloch Rubin, “This is why the Freedom Caucus called the shots on Trump’s health-care bill,” March 27, 2017.
Richard Pildes, “The GOP’s health-care failure is no one-off event. Welcome to our fragmented politics,” March 26, 2017.
Andrew Rudalevige, “President Trump couldn’t pass Obamacare repeal. This is why,” March 24, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “Here are 3 things we learned from Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare,” March 24, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “This is why the Republicans struggle over Obamacare,” March 9, 2017.
John Sides, “The prospects of a quick Obamacare repeal are sinking fast,” February 19, 2017.
Ryan LaRochelle, “The GOP plan to fund Medicaid through block grants will probably weaken it,” January 18, 2017.
Henry Farrell, “Republicans say their midnight vote was about bridge building. Actually, it was bridge burning,” January 12, 2017.
Daniel Béland, Philip Rocco, and Alex Waddan, “Here’s three easy ways a Republican president could dismantle the ACA — short of outright repeal,” January 26, 2016.
Patrick J. Egan, “Why the GOP loses if the Obamacare lawsuit wins,” June 1, 2015.
Sarah Binder, “Bipartisan doc-fix passes the House: How did polarized parties do it?” March 26, 2015.

Immigration

Andrew Rudalevige, “Trump just issued another immigration ban. That’s because Congress handed over its immigration powers,” April 24, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “How did Congress pass humanitarian aid for migrant children so quickly? Here are 3 takeaways,” June 29, 2019.
Sarah Binder, “Immigration boiled over last week. Here’s what Congress did — and why,” June 25, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “Some moderate Republicans are trying to force a House vote on DACA. Here’s what that means,” May 10, 2018.
John Sides, “The odds are still against a deal to legalize DACA,” January 23, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “This is why Congress will still have a hard time legalizing DACA,” September 7, 2017.
Allan Colbern, “The House is picking a fight with ‘sanctuary city’ ordinances. How is this like the fugitive slave laws?” August 13, 2015.
Zoltan L. Hajnal, “Opposition to immigration reform is a winning strategy for Republicans,” February 27, 2015.

Privacy

William Bendix and Paul J. Quirk, “Some lawmakers want to let the FBI monitor your Internet and email activity — without oversight,” July 14, 2016.
H.L. Pohlman, “Did the Senate just roll back the government’s surveillance power? Not so fast,” June 4, 2015.
H.L. Pohlman, “What the USA Freedom Act giveth, and taketh away,” May 13, 2015.
H.L. Pohlman, “Ending bulk data collection: Nice idea, wrong bill,” October 29, 2014.
H.L. Pohlman, “Minimal minimization? More concerns about surveillance,” August 16, 2014.
H. L. Pohlman, “The surveillance debate, continued: Another response to the ACLU,” August 15, 2014.
H.L. Pohlman, “Might get fooled again? — The Senate and surveillance,” July 30, 2014.

Sanctions

Luke Mackle, “The Senate wants tough new sanctions against Russia, but key U.S. allies are furious. Here’s why,” June 27, 2017.
Jordan Tama, “So Congress is challenging the president about sanctions? That has a long history,” June 16, 2017.

Tax reform

Matthew N. Green, “How did the Democrats’ major spending bill get off life support?” August 8, 2022.
Joshua McCabe, “Why people are fighting over Social Security numbers,” July 20, 2022.
Vanessa Williamson, “How tax cuts for the wealthy became Republican orthodoxy,” December 21, 2017.
Larry Bartels, “The GOP tax bill is business as usual in America’s unequal democracy,” December 20, 2017.
Kenneth F. Scheve and David Stasavage, “Americans have different ideas about what makes taxes 'fair.' But the GOP bill has something all sides oppose,” December 19, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “Three reasons Republican senators will end up without real tax reform,” November 30, 2017.
John Sides, “Here’s the incredibly unpopular GOP tax reform plan — in one graph,” November 18, 2017.
John Sides, “What do Republicans need to pass tax reform? Democrats,” November 7, 2017.
Sarah Binder, “Watch out, Republicans. Tax reform could be just as hard as health care,” September 27, 2017.

Trade

John Seungmin Kuk, Deborah Seligsohn, and Jiakun Jack Zhang, “Why Republicans don’t push back on Trump’s China tariffs — in one map,” August 7, 2018.
Sarah Binder, “Can a trade bargain be put back together again?” June 16, 2015.
Gregory Koger, “How do you try to stop fast-track trade authority? With three separate filibusters,” May 22, 2015.
Nathan M. Jensen, “Experts see a Republican Senate and fast-track authority for Obama as keys to new trade agreements,” January 21, 2015.

Congress and the District of Columbia

Robinson Woodward-Burns, “D.C. statehood is back on the House’s agenda. Here’s why it faces an uphill battle,” September 19, 2019.
Matthew Green, “Guns, god, and ganja: Congress takes on the District of Columbia,” May 5, 2015.

Campaign finance and lobbying

Sara Sadhwani, Pamela Lopez, Christian Grose, and Antoine Yoshinaka, “When lobbyists and legislators socialize, lobbyists are more likely to get what they want,” January 12, 2022.
Florian Gawehns and Amy Meli, “Are U.S. companies punishing Republicans for Jan. 6? Here’s what our research finds,” January 5, 2022.
Caleb Ziolkowski, “Senators dumped stocks amid the coronavirus crisis. Here’s what we know about Congress and financial self-interest,” March 25, 2020.
Anne Baker, “The more outside money politicians take, the less well they represent their constituents,” August 17, 2016.
Jeffrey Lazarus, “Which members of Congress become lobbyists? The ones with the most power. Here’s the data,” January 15, 2016.
Anthony Madonna and Ian Ostrander, “If Congress keeps cutting its staff, who is writing your laws? You won’t like the answer,” August 20, 2015.
Mark Schmitt, “Aaron Schock’s downfall tells us we need to look at political spending as well as giving,” March 20, 2015.
David Karol, “How campaign finance law makes senators early lame ducks,” March 2, 2015.
John Sides, “A new experiment shows how money buys access to Congress,” March 11, 2014.