On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill: Charlie and SoRelle are joined by Kevin R. Kosar from the American Enterprise Institute and host of the Understanding Congress podcast to talk about how Congress lost so much power to the executive branch, and what it would take to get some of it back. Is the “imperial presidency” a Trump thing or a century-long trend? What’s the Congressional Research Service and why does it matter? And why won’t Congress just invest in its own capacity already?
Then, in the Gavel Drop: Kevin joins for a lightning round of congressional reform hot takes: Should we ditch the filibuster? Expand the House to 600 members? Pay Congress more? Get rid of cameras in committee hearings? And Charlie and SoRelle’s favorite bugaboo: Are earmarks actually good?
This week’s syllabus 📚
* “The Best-Kept Secret in Washington” (Kevin Kosar and John Guida, The New York Times)
* “Congress Remains the Heart of Our Constitutional System,” (Kevin Kosar, Kosar on Congress and Governance)
* “What’s Wrong with Congress?” (Kevin R. Kosar, Public Discourse)
