Category: Congress

Inside the battle for control of the Library of Congress

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Interview transcript: Terry Gerton There’s been a lot of conversation lately about the Library of Congress. And you’ve written about the current clash between the Trump administration and Congress and the library itself. Can you just give us a quick history of how the Library of Congress came to be and what its relationship normally is? Kevin Kosar The Library of Congress was born about 225 years ago. It was established by an act of Congress: Members realized that if they were going to legislate and legislate intelligently, it would…

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New Social Security commissioner faces pointed questions about staffing, privacy

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WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of job cuts, leadership turnover and other turmoil at the Social Security Administration, the agency’s newly minted commissioner faced pointed questions from lawmakers about the future of the agency and its ability to pay Americans their benefits and protect their privacy. Frank Bisignano, who was sworn in last month as President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, told lawmakers he intends to improve accuracy in payments and raise morale at the agency, which has already lost 7,000 workers since billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of…

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GOP civil service overhaul effort violates reconciliation rules

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An attempt from Republicans to remove civil service protections for newly hired federal employees now faces a higher obstacle under GOP reconciliation bill. The Senate parliamentarian on Sunday marked several provisions of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s portion of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” as violations of reconciliation rules. One of those provisions sought to make all new federal employees choose between becoming an at-will employee and taking on a 5% increase in their contribution rate to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), or keeping their civil service…

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Army promises detailed transformation plan to Congress within 10 days

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Army officials told lawmakers they will provide a detailed briefing on the service’s new transformation initiative within the next ten days, following mounting pressure from Congress to explain plans for the sweeping overhaul announced more than a month ago. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for another round of questioning about the Army’s fiscal 2026 budget request. But formal details about program cuts and investment shifts tied to the service’s transformation initiative remain scarce. “The Army must change and…

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Cuts to civil service protections remain in Senate committee’s reconciliation proposal

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Despite taking some proposed cuts to federal benefits off the table, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is still looking to remove civil service job protections for federal employees as part of the GOP reconciliation process. The Senate committee’s proposal for the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” released Thursday, kept three of four key sections impacting the federal workforce that House lawmakers passed last month. HSGAC’s legislative text also made a handful of revisions and added several new provisions not seen in the House’s version. In total, the committee…

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An objective look at Congress’ ability to conduct effective oversight

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Interview transcript: Terry Gerton: Well, you make a case in a recent paper that Congress has been neglecting its oversight role over the last two decades. What’s your evidence? J.D. Rackey: Yeah. So the claim is pretty well substantiated in political science literature, and I’m trying to raise that here in the D.C. world, that there’s been a long, steady, bipartisan decline in how Congress approaches its oversight. And there’s been a decline, in particular, in the number of hearings that Congress has been holding — and oversight hearings —…

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