Margaret L. Taylor is a senior editor and counsel at Lawfare and a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Previously, she was the Democratic Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 through July 2018.
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The New York Times publicized a package of legislative proposals the Department of Justice submitted to Capitol Hill. What should we make of these new proposals?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tasked House Rules Committee chairman James McGovern to produce a report on whether the House of Representatives should develop a system for remote voting in light of the COVID-19 crisis. In the report, McGovern concludes that such a change could not be implemented overnight and likely could not be accomplished in time to address the current crisis. The report finds that a rule change of this magnitude would require major changes to foundational House rules surrounding deliberation, voting, and attendance—which would likely have unintended consequences.
As more legislators become sick or are forced to quarantine, Congress needs to move fast to protect itself against a worst-case scenario.
On March 16, the Senate punted on the issue of reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a sign of just how dysfunctional Congress and the executive branch have become.
The House passed a bipartisan FISA reform bill. What are the substantive changes the bill proposes?
There is no good reason why the Capitol is still open to the public and members are being allowed to give tours to children.
President Trump is stretching the limits of his statutory ability to appoint acting officials to Senate-confirmed roles. What can Congress do?