Reforming Congress – Sarah Binder, The Brookings Institution

October 26, 2021  

  • Video
  • 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
Binder-Transcript