Reforming Congress – Zachary Courser, Director of CMC’s Policy Lab, Assistant Professor at CMC

June 21, 2022   Matthew Chervenak

  • Congressional Reform
  • Video
  • 00:20 Background
  • 03:16 Talk a little bit about Policy Lab. What is its intentions?
  • 05:32 Talk about the research side of what you do, what are your broad areas of research?
  • 10:01 Can you talk through your perspective on earmarks?
  • 15:00 Undermining earmarking in Congress
  • 17:00 A few rules about earmarking
  • 20:41 Caucus rules aren’t congressional rules
  • 23:40 Republicans vs Democrats
  • 28:55 Lets go back to earmarking, what has changed?
  • 35:47 Earmarks are a tool the whips should be using
  • 43:31 How are earmarks allocated now? What is the mechanism?
  • 46:52 Can you talk through your perspective on the party system?
  • 54:39 External rules imposed on members within their parties
  • 56:00 Rules can have meaningful outcomes in terms of how Congress operates
    -Lightning Round-
  • 1:02:00 What do you think Congressional representation should mean?
  • 1:16:02 How would your ideal Congress allocate its time?
  • 1:19:20 What fundamental institutional changes should Congress make within the next 50 years?
  • 1:22:35 What book or article most shaped your thinking about Congressional Reform?