Reforming Congress – Sarah Binder, The Brookings Institution

0:14– Background
2:56– Areas of Research
4:04– Why are there minority and majority rights?
8:18– What are the rules and norms that give the majority/minority extra power?
11:34– How did committees become an advantage for the majority parties?
13:40– Coalitions and nonparty groups
17:43– Two-party system
19:35– How does the committee chairman help with majority power in the committee?
21:37– Does the amount of members in the House and Senate drive the factors for majority and minority party rules?
26:50– How does the Senate work and how has it evolved?
30:10– How does the bargaining mechanism work in the Senate?
33:38– The idea of needing a high threshold to get to the floor or to vote
34:35– Filibuster reforms
38:37– Concept of parallel track
40:17– Study of congressional scholars
45:30– Tracking individual member votes/ causation of votes
48:48– Oversight in Congress
52:48– What is the appropriate oversight activities for Congress?
[Lightning Round]
58:25– What should congressional representation mean?
1:02:17– How would your ideal Congress allocate its time?
1:05:40– How should debate, deliberation, or dialogue occur or be structured in Congress?
1:08:30 – What fundamental institutional improvement should Congress make within the next 50 years?
1:09:07– What book or article most shaped your thinking with respect to congressional reform?
1:10:05– Long tem plans