Reforming Congress – Kenneth Lowande, University of Michigan

February 15, 2022   Matthew Chervenak

  • Congressional Reform
  • Video
  • 0:15 – Background
  • 1:26 – Interests in Government
  • 2:32 – Broad areas of research
  • 3:43 – What questions did you have with the budgeting process and appropriations?
  • 6:13 – How do authorization committees work in relation to appropriations?
  • 8:53 – Authorization versus Appropriations
  • 11:36 – The top down elements of the budget process
  • 15:01 – What questions did you have relating to oversight?
  • 20:45 – Nature of oversight versus favors
  • 23:11 – Constituent service on a retail level
  • 29:11 – Concept of oversight
  • 32:32 – Can Congress use a third party to get information to see how executive agencies are doing?
  • 46:16 – Inner-branch communications structure research
  • 50:08 – Results on the inner-branch communication research
    [Lightning Round]
  • 53:13 – What do you think congressional representation should mean?
  • 56:33 – How would your ideal Congress allocate its time?
  • 58:45 – How should debate, deliberation, or dialogue occur or be structured in Congress?
  • 1:00:44 – What fundamental institutional improvement should Congress make within 50 years?
  • 1:02:48 – What book or article most shaped your thinking with respect to congressional reform?
  • 1:04:32 – Long term plans