Daniel Wirls, University of California, Santa Cruz
Members of the House of Representatives relish their connection to their districts and their constituents. So why are they called “Congressman” or “Congresswoman” instead of “Representative”?
Would term limits lead to a more effective and less polarized Congress?
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Very few Americans believe Congress is doing a good job. Some of them have a simple solution: Throw the bums out and institute term limits. But that creates more problems than it solves.
Overturning decades of tradition, the Supreme Court in 2022 let Alabama use voting districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens.
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Historically, federal courts prioritized voting rights and legal congressional districts for upcoming elections above all other concerns. But the Supreme Court changed that in 2022.
Flags for the United States and Ukraine billow outside of the Capitol building on April 23, 2024.
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In taxpayer-funded email messages to constituents, Republicans prefer visual elements and strategic timing, and Democrats prefer more text-heavy missives.
Banning TikTok has economic implications and will affect hundreds of millions of users.
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Proposed U.S. legislation banning TikTok and the recently revealed Canadian national security review of the app reveals the insincerity and hypocrisy of politicians.
There’s no guarantee that the bill will even make it onto the floor of the US House of Representatives.
Michigan’s redistricting commission consists of ordinary citizens with no special qualifications. A court has disapproved their initial effort.
AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
Kevin McCarthy, the only speaker of the House to be ousted, has quit Congress. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as Shakespeare, understood the price of ambition like McCarthy’s: humiliation.
At a January 2017 executive order signing, adviser Peter Navarro is third from left behind Trump, while Steve Bannon is on the far right.
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The conviction and incarceration of 2 former Trump aides who refused to comply with the House Jan. 6 committee’s information requests could revive a potent tool for accountability.
House Republicans applaud as U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, center, is elected the new speaker of the House on Oct. 25, 2023.
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The problems faced by the House GOP in choosing a new speaker aren’t particular to Republicans. They’re a reflection of larger problems that have afflicted both parties in Congress.
There’s trouble under the U.S. Capitol dome.
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The absence of a speaker of the House − a single individual but the linchpin in Congress − could produce a dangerous crisis in America’s constitutional democracy.
Jim Jordan, center, has been working feverishly to line up support for his speakership.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
In the 1850s, a fight over the speakership took nearly two months and 133 rounds of voting. But for nearly a century, the majority party in the House has unanimously supported its leader. No longer.
With Patrick McHenry leading the House as speaker pro tempore, spending and legislative options appear limited.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Long gridlocked by fighting between the two major political parties, the US House is now split by conflict within the GOP, thanks in part to redistricting practices that boost extremism.
Republican Kevin McCarthy held a press conference after being removed from his post as speaker of the US House of Representatives.
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